The King of Storms
by Mazarin Stone
Summary: Sequel to the Dance of the Dragons, in which the monks move to a new temple, old villains and new reappear, and a certain evil boy genius gets crowned by evil blind worms. As always, read and review! [Completed]
1. The Great Garuda

**The Great Garuda  
**

"Which Shen Gong Wu are we looking for again?" Raimundo asked as he and the other Xiaolin monks soared through the stormy skies on the back of their guardian dragon, Dojo.

Kimiko tentatively removed the Ancient Scroll from its waterproof pouch and unravelled it. Peering through her goggles, she could make it the image of a stick-figure man holding a necklace out in front of him. Tiny stick-figure snakes swarmed around him, then flinched backwards from the light that his necklace was emitting. "It's called the Great Garuda. It's supposed to be able to ward off any animal with less than four limbs."

"... that's an oddly specific power, innit, Kimiko?" Clay said after a while.

"I don't make these things up, Clay." The dragon of fire responded.

"I'm getting a big reading just below us." Dojo put in. He shuddered violently then, causing the monks to have to hold on for dear life. "Sorry 'bout that." He mumbled. "It's just that I'm _really _allergic to this Shen Gong Wu, and it's _really _close by."

Omi smiled. "Do not worry, friend Dojo. We shall jump down and retrieve it for you."

And without a second though, Omi closed his eyes and leapt off Dojo's back. The other monks watched as he fell down... down... down and vanished into the mass of trees below.

"Ooookay, then!" Kimiko said. "Who forgot to tell him that he couldn't fly?"

"Don't look at me!" Raimundo yelled. He turned away. "I guess we'd better go after him."

Raimundo leapt off Dojo's back first, followed closely by Kimiko and a reluctant Clay. The three monks fell for what felt like hours before Rai stretched out his arms and conjured a protective cloud of air to gently bring them to a landing atop the forest that was rushing up to meet them.

"Omi!" Kimiko called out as soon as they had touched down on the forest floor. "Omi, where are you?"

As if in response, the monk's voice yelped somewhere ahead of them.

"_Hannibal Bean_!"

"Uh-oh... " Raimundo murmured. "Looks like our boy's in trouble."

"He's not the only one!" chuckled a familiar, evil voice.

Raimundo turned only to see Kimiko and Clay being hoisted into the air by a pair of extra-thick vines. Both of the monks had been bound and gagged and were unable to so much as move a muscle, much less fight back against their captor.

The dragon of the wind leapt backward and drew the Sword of the Storm from its hiding place inside his sash. "Bring it on, Beanbag!" He said, daring the diminutive villain to show himself.

"I don't have time to mess around with you." Bean retorted. "I'll just leave you with one of my new pets."

Raimundo heard the bushes in the clearing behind him rustle. He turned around just as an enormous shape burst into the clearing and slammed into him, sending the Sword of the Storm flying.

His attacker was a gigantic dragon. If he didn't know better, he would have thought that it was carved out of stone. But he had seen this creature once before. It was a skeleton dragons, one of an army raised by Chase Young in a chasm just three weeks ago, after he had destroyed the Xiaolin temple. The creature was a steely-gray, with glowing red eyes and a poisonous aura that seemed to kill the plantlife around it as it bounded towards him with its jaws snapping and its teeth gnashing.

"_Wudai Star -- WIND_!" Raimundo shouted, releasing a gust of wind that swirled towards the dragon. The burst barely seemed to phase it as it continued its rampage.

He ran towards the creature, drawing back his fist and slamming it into its skull. That, at least, seemed to have an impact. A crack split across the skeleton's skull and the dragon seemed dazed. Raimundo continued to batter it with blows, driving it back towards the edge of the clearing. Finally, he grabbed either end of its skull and violently twisted the thing off. The rest of the skeleton's body fell inert.

"Whoa. That was... " He gasped, suddenly out of breath. _That was some effort_, he thought. _Sure glad there aren't any more of these._

"Mmmmmhmmmm!"

Raimundo suddenly remembered Kimiko and Clay, still being held captive by Hannibal Bean's magic vines. He grabbed the Sword of the Storm in one hand and went over to cut them loose.

Kimiko screamed the moment her mouth was uncovered. "_Rai! LOOK!"_

Raimundo didn't even have to look around. He could hear the footsteps and he could smell the stench of rot and decay. _More skeletons. What a day_.

"Let's take 'em!" Clay said as he and Kimiko rose and stood by Raimundo's side.

"Don't think that'll be necessary!" Kimiko said, pointing. Raimundo and Clay followed her finger and saw a blurred shape moving about the treetops. They watched as it fell atop each of the undead dragons in turn, smashing them to bits of bone and cartilage before vanishing back into the air. In a matter of minutes, they were all finished.

"Omi, way to go, pardner!" Clay called out.

The hidden assailant dropped into view, a tall, muscular man with an ascetic baldness and an enormous curved spear. "That's... definitely not Omi." Kimiko murmured.

"Yeah, did the height give it away?" Raimundo said.

"Well, I'll be!" Clay exclaimed. "If it isn't Master Monk Guan! What brings you around to these parts?"

"I am very glad to see that you are unharmed, my friends." Master Guan said. "But there is no time for formalities. We must get to the Shen Gong Wu before Hannibal Bean."

_He doesn't waste time with words_. Raimundo thought as Guan ran into the bushes and disappeared. The three monks followed him, crashing through the foliage without so much as a second thought.

By sheer luck, the Great Garuda was just a few clearings away from where they had landed. Somewhat less fortunately, Hannibal Bean was just a few inches away from the Shen Gong Wu.

"Get your filthy... uh... " Raimundo began, charging towards the diminutive monster. "Can we really call them hands?"

"Does it really matter? Get the Shen Gong Wu!" Kimiko called.

_Jeez, I thought _I _was the team leader!_ Raimundo thought to himself. He punted Bean backwards away from the Shen Gong Wu. When Clay swooped down upon him and caught him between his large fingers, Raimundo bent down and picked up the Great Garuda. "Hey, I got it, you guys!" He called, but even as the words left his lips he could see the Wu pulsing with light. That could only mean one thing.

"Raimundo, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown!"

Disbelieving, Raimundo turned the Great Garuda upside down only to find Bean clinging to the underside, his misshapen mouth stretched in a macabre grin. "How did you... but... _hey--_" He stammered, but Bean continued, ignoring him.

"My Shadow Slicer against your Sword of the Storm. The game is Rescue the Shen Gong Wu! The first one to get to the Shen Gong Wu wins!" Bean said. "What say you?"

"I say... _Gong Yi TANPAI_!" Raimundo said. There was a tremendous flash of light and the showdown began.

* * *

The forest around them was transformed, taking the shape of a Roman area, complete with an amphitheatre for Kimiko, Clay, and Master Guan to sit and watch.

"Let's go! _Xiaolin Showdown_!" Raimundo & Bean cried in unison.

Bean immediately took the offensive. "_Shadow Slicer_!" He bellowed. The Shen Gong Wu around what passed for his wrist glowed once and several holograms sprang out of his body.

_So that's how he did it_, Raimundo thought.

"Yeah, you never kicked me." Bean said smugly. "It was only a holographic mirage."

"Whatever, dude. _Sword of the Storm_!" Raimundo slashed at the air. A sharp gale of wind hit the Bean closest to him, causing it to vanish into motes of light. _Another illusion. Got to figure out a way to find the real one before he gets to the Great Garuda first._

All of the Bean duplicates were rushing about every which way, leaping and flying to keep Raimundo from seeing past them to where the Great Garuda was hiding. He ran through them, slashing at any that dared to go too close. He could barely see the Great Garuda above him, nestled in a few trees that remained near the very top of the Coliseum.

"Come to daddy, birdie!" He called out, stretching his hand towards it.

Bean shot past him then, his arms oustretched as well. Raimundo realized with a sinking feeling that Hannibal was going to get there first.

_Not if I have anything to say about it!_

He set his jaw fiercely and focused on the glittering statue lying amid the leaves. '_Wind_'! He thought, calling forth a zephyr that was different from any he had ever summoned before. The wind tore at the leaves, sending them scattering through the air as he tugged forcefully at the statue.

_Just a few more inches... _

Rai hissed in satisfaction as the statue fell free, launching into a downward spiral into his waiting hands.

"_Noooooo_!" Bean howled as the Showdown culminated. The two warriors landed in the middle of the clearing. Raimundo, triumphant, was carrying the Sword of the Storm, the Shadow Slicer, and the newly acquired Great Garuda. The defeated Bean looked oddly helpless as he sat there next to Raimundo's shoe.

"Way to go, Rai!" Kimiko said as she, Clay, and Master Guan came up to him.

During the congratulations, Bean started to slink off, hoping to vanish unseen. He was already hatching plans on visiting Master Guan's temple in the night with many more skeleton dragons, and was looking forward to razing it as Chase Young had done to Master Fung's temple.

"Where do you think you are going?" said a voice from above him. He looked up to see Omi towering above him; even the littlest monk was bigger than he is.

"I'm getting the heck outta here!" Bean shouted.

"Not so fastly!" Omi declared, whipping out his own signature Shen Gong Wu. "_Orb of Tornami -- ICE_!" And before the evil vegetable could even move, he was frozen in a block of ice.

"Excellent work, Xiaolin dragons." Master Guan said. "You have rescued another Shen Gong Wu and captured one of the greatest evils in the world. Master Fung will be most pleased to hear this."

"Yeah, let's go tell him!" Raimundo said. "D'you think he'll let us get off on chores for this?"


	2. Tales of the Coffee Cup

Jack Spicer woke up in his lair for the third night in a row, alone except for a row of half-finished robots and a bunch of empty pudding cups that had somehow missed the trash can. He groaned as he fished a wrench out of the collar of his shirt and sat up. _Boy, what happened last night?_

Suddenly, it all came back to him. Hannibal Bean had invaded his lair the night before with one of his new creepy skeletons and had taken all of his Shen Gong Wu for himself. The vault door that had been torn off its hinges and thrown onto the ground confirmed that story.

"Anyone called when I was out?" Jack asked groggily.

His permanently-grinning Yes-bot zoomed around him in a mad circle, its head rotating dangerously. "Seven missed calls, my master! _Seven missed calls_!" The robot made a noise that sounded like it was clearing its throat, then began to speak in a perfect imitation in Katnappe's voice.

"Hello, freak-boy! In case you wondering why I called, I was looking for an evil partner to go on a crime spree with. Call back if you're coming with... unless you're too chicken."

_BEEP!_

This was Tubbimura's voice. "I am Tubbimura, of the Ninja! I have acquired a cold iron sword, a hand-and-a-half long with a fine edge. If you are interested, return this call... if you dare!"

_BEEP!_

Wuya this time. "Spicer! Bring me the Reversing Mirror and the Serpent's Tail and I will make you _rich_!"

_BEEP!_

"Enough!" Jack yelled. "I'm sick of these calls. Yes-bot, if anyone on my address book calls me or e-mails me, delete it. I've had enough! And bring me some coffee!"

"As you wish, my master!" The Yes-bot said.

Jack shoved the grinning ghoul away from him and surveyed his domain with increasing dismay. _No Shen Gong Wu, no Jack-bots, and not a SINGLE person that I can trust anymore. How am I going to take over the world like this? _

He knew now that he needed to make a change. He couldn't keep on signing deals with the forces of the Heylin without getting something in return. But there was no way he could strong-arm people like Chase Young or Hannibal Bean or even the recently re-ghosted Wuya. Not without _some _kind of edge...

"I won't lose so easily!" Jack said, peering into the creamless coffee with red, red eyes. "I am bad! I am evil! I _will _find a way, or my name isn't _Jack Spicer, EVIL BOY GENIUS_!"

Ripples began forming in his coffee, spreading out from the center to the edges of the rim. But Jack wasn't moving it with his hand.

Bright purple eyes stared back unblinkingly at him.

_'There is a way, young master_' said a voice that seemed to emanate from nowhere. _'The only question is... are you willing to take it?_'

* * *

"Hannibal Bean, you are accused of tampering with the sacred elemental forces, turning Chase Young to the side of evil, and attempting to facilitate the destruction of Earth by a bunch of blind worms. _Really creepy _blind worms. How do you plead?"

Bean was in chains, staring blearily up at the stone faces of the four monks who were sitting in judgment at his trial. Each one was an Elder Monk from the various temples throughout the world, representing the four elements of Water, Earth, Wind, and Fire. Master Fung had called them as soon as he had heard that Bean was captured and had invited them to judge Bean for all of the evil he had done in service to the Heylin side.

"I didn't do any of that." He said finally.

"Yes you did, we saw you!" Kimiko shouted.

"He... tricked me most shamefully into absorbing all of the elemental powers for my own." Omi said solemnly.

"Hannibal Bean also stole Chase Young's soul with the Lau Mang Long Soup." Master Guan added.

"It is true. He helped to steal the Lunarcanum and the Terrarcanum and almost used them to destroy the world." Dojo piped up. "But I stopped him. He and Tiamat, and Echidna. Did you that? It was _me_! But when I asked for a little 'thank-you' gift to show their appreciation for saving their lives and all, you know what they said? _No_!"

"You wanted three Ferraris and a supermodel for a girlfriend! We can't get you all that!" Raimundo said. "Well, _I _could get the supermodels, but not for _you_."

"Silence!" The Fire judge said, raising a hand. "Hannibal Bean, what say you to these accusations?"

"They're making it all up. L'il Omi absorbed the elements on his own, Chase Young drank the Lau Mang Long Soup on his own, and if I recall correctly, _that there _little green varmint Dojowas the one who melted the Shen Gong Wu and created a portal into our world. I had nothin' to do with any of it." Bean said. "Heylin honor."

"Are his statements correct?" asked the Water judge.

"Well, technically _yes_, but--," Raimundo began, but the judges cut him off.

"We have heard enough. By your own testimony and his own, we have no choice but to find Hannibal Roy Bean _not guilty _of the aforementioned crimes." The Wind judge banged his gavel on the podium and with that same stroke smashed the chains binding Hannibal Bean.

"_What? _They just can't let him go for that!" Raimundo demanded. As the judges were climbing down from their bench, he turned to Master Fung. "I thought that you said that these were the wisest monks in the world. If they really _were_, then they'd have him stuffed in a puzzle box or _something_!"

"Raimundo, please--," Master Fung began.

"They're _idiots_! I hope they're happy when Bean tries to destroy the world again." Rai snapped.

"_Young monk_!" said a cold, reedy voice. Raimundo turned around only to find himself standing face-to-face with the Wind judge.

"Hmm?" Rai said, gritting his teeth.

"For all your cleverness and pride, you are no wiser than a newborn. Do not presume to question our wisdom, for once you summoned us you submitted yourself and Bean to our judgment." The monk turned away, and followed his fellow judges out of the Temple.

"I guess I'm free again." Bean said, grinning grotesquely.

"Hey, now, don't think we can't still kick yer butt." Clay said.

"Alright, alright, I'm goin'." Bean called for the Ying-Ying Bird, who swooped down and carried him off in its little talons.

* * *

"Well, that was a total ripoff." Rai said as he and his fellow monks were practicing stick-fighting in the courtyard.

"Cheer up, Rai. At least we caught him once, and we still managed to get the Shen Gong Wu away from. Maybe he'll be too scared to come after us again." Kimiko said, dodging a spinning kick from Omi. She watched nervously as Raimundo went after Clay with fierce blow after fierce blow; he was taking the sparring a little more seriously than usual.

"Even you don't believe that," Rai retorted. Kimiko secretly agreed, but she wasn't going to tell him that.

"Maybe this'll cheer you up!" Dojo said, scuttling between Rai's and Clay's skirmish. "Master Guan just left with 10 of his strongest disciples to find out whatever happened to Chase Young. Pretty soon, they'll be less evil to fight! Isn't that just peachy for you?"

"Whatever." Raimundo said. He brought his own stick sweeping down in a high arc, knocking Clay's ten-gallon hat from his head. The stick then snapped with a loud _crack _as it fell to the ground, broken. "You guys, I'm going to bed. If you need anything, _please _hesitate to ask."

He stormed off towards his temple.

"What has gotten up of _him_?" OMi asked.

"It's '_what's gotten into him_'," Kimiko corrected. "And to be honest, I don't know. He's been acting kind of weird lately."

"He is afraid," Master Fung said as he stepped onto the temple grounds.

"Rai? Afraid?" Clay said.

"Yes." Fung continued. "The forces of the Heylin swept down upon the temple, the only home he's known for years. He was left to defend it, and despite all of his titles and advantages he failed to save it from total destruction."

"Omi was there too, and he's not acting all funny!" Kimiko protested.

"But Raimundo is the Shoku Warrior," Omi added. "He has responsibilities far greater than we three, and fears that he may not be worthy of his rank."

They were all silent for a moment. "I should go talk to him," Kimiko said.

"We'll come too." Omi and Clay said in unison.

"That is good. If he knows that is friends still stand by his side, he may become more confident." Master Fung said.

"I'll stay out here," Dojo offered. "To catch you if he decides to shove you out the window." When no-one laughed, he grinned sheepishly and slunk away, muttering something about guarding the vault.

"I sure hope he's not as upset as he was during training," Clay said.

* * *

Jack stared numbly at his coffee, trying to digest all that it had told him in the past hour or so.

"So, what you're saying is," He began. "is that I'm not just Jack Spicer, son of a boring businessman and his equally yet uniquely boring realtor wife? Instead, according to you, I'm actually Jack Spicer, son of the King and Queen of the Underworld, and that it's time for me to set aside my title as Evil Boy Genius and take up the much cooler mantle of Dark Prince of the Universe? Do you _really _think I'll believe that?"

The coffee cup didn't say a word.

"Well, _YOU'RE RIGHT! WOOHOO! This is SO AWESOME_!" Jack leapt atop his worktable, careful not to knock over the coffee cup, and began gyrating like a madman. He was dancing for a full five minutes before he stopped and clambered back down into his seat. "Let me guess," He said, drawing from experience from a lot of bad deals with his fellow villains. "There's a catch. Something I gotta do before I get my hands on the Dark Prince mojo, right?"

The cup didn't even seem to hear him.

"Answer me, you fragile piece of styrofoam, _or you'll regret it_."

The purple eyes in the cup narrowed. '_Yes, Your Highness._ _It is very simple. A new Shen Gong Wu will soon reveal itself. You must seize it for yourself and wield it, and your kingdom will be made manifest here_'.

"And that's all?" Jack said.

_'Yes, Your Highness._'

"_WOOOOOOHOOOOO_!" Jack shrieked. "This almost makes up for losing all... my... Shen Gong Wu... oh, boy."

'_What is it, Your Highness_?'

"I don't _have _any Wu for a Showdown. I'll never get that new Shen Gong Wu!" Jack complained.

'_Hmm... Your Highness, I beg your leave to present to you a gift, worthy of your excellence and grandeur._'

The coffee cup shone, and, as if by magic, a glowing orb of light emanated from the frothy solution within it. It floated towards Jack, then popped like a balloon. Jack looked down, and, lying at his feet, were the Shen Gong Wu that Hannibal had stolen from him -- minus the Shadow Slicer, of course.

"Wow, hey!" Jack cried. "Silk Spitter, Helmet of Jong, Shen Ga Roo, and... ooh, _Monkey Staff! _I've missed you so!" He kissed the wooden staff sloppily, and if the coffee cup had been alive it would probably been retching in disgust at the sight. As it was, it just sat there, ever patient and totally immobile. . "Now what?" Jack asked.

_ 'Now we wait... Your Highness...'_

* * *


	3. Guardian

_**Sugarmakesmeangry **-- Don't worry; it's my intention to make this story about everyone. I have a bunch of character arcs planned out for almost everyone that appears; just keep reading and I'll reveal all!_

_**Raigirl **-- Thanks for the compliment!_

_**Mad-Hatter L-Carol **-- Eh, he's been hanging out with dragons and overweight ninjas and talking vegetables for so long that he's desensitized to that kind of thing._

_**Shadir **-- He really is naive, isn't he?_

* * *

**Guardian**

The sound of a gong being sounded summoned everyone in Guan's temple to the courtyard. The Xiaolin dragons reluctantly made their way down the stairs, realizing that the gong was only sounded when an announcement was to be made and wondering what was going to happen now. They found Master Monk Guan and Master Fung standing in the courtyard, with Dojo in between them looking as nervous as they felt.

"We have two announcements to make!" Master Guan called. He seemed to be staring right at the Xiaolin dragons standing amid the other monks. "I have been conferring with Master Fung, and according to the mystic signs we have been observing the powers of the Heylin masters have grown too great to ignore. We have decided that we must go forth and capture Chase Young."

"I wish to go with you!" Omi said. The other monks shouted their assent. Master Fung raised a hand to bid them all to be silent.

"We need you -- _all _of you -- to stay here. There are other dangers still encroaching and you must remain vigilant." Master Guan said.

"This brings me to the second announcement." Master Fung continued. "We do not know how long this journey will take, so one of you has been named Guardian of the temple and will be responsible for staying behind and protecting the Temple while the others pursue Shen Gong Wu." He nudged Dojo gently with his sandaled foot and whispered, "Call out the name."

Dojo cleared his throat and began speaking in an ostentatious voice. "By the pow-er ves-ted in me-e-e-e-e, in the name of great Dashi, fierce Tebigong, tasty Hamachi, and the ancient land of Manchuria, I, Dojo the dragon, of the brood of Tiamat and Echidna, who I beat up once, I--,"

"_Out with it_!" Master Guan said.

Dojo frowned. "Hey, don't rush me! This is supposed to be very dramatic." He cleared his throat once more, and said, "Raimundo Pedrosa. You're it!"

Everyone was silent.

"Uh... congratulations, Rai." Kimiko said.

"Yes, ahem, I am most pleased that you have won this prestige position." Omi added.

"Wow, I don't know what to say... this is a great honor... I..." Raimundo began. "I'm so...uh... so _happy_ for this."

"This is indeed a great honor." Master Fung said. "There have been only a handful of Guardians in the history of the Xiaolin Order at all--,"

"_I'm _one of them, of course." Dojo piped up.

"--and only one Guardian charged with the task of protecting a Temple -- Grandmaster Dashi himself." Master Fung finished.

"Since you are excused from chores and Shen Gong Wu missions, you will have plenty of time to study and meditate to prepare yourself for your role as Shoku warrior." Master Guan said.

"Thank you. I'll live up to your expectations." Raimundo said, bowing.

"He's certainly sounding better." Kimiko said to Clay and Omi as the crowd of monks dispersed.

"You know what I figger?" Clay said. "I figger Master Fung gave him this job on purpose. Sort of a confidence boost." He grinned toothily. "Sneaky old coot!"

"'Sneaky old coot' indeed," Master Fung said as he stepped up behind them, smiling enigmatically. Clay yelped and stumbled forward in surprise.

"Boy, you made me jump a mile!" Clay said.

"Come, young monks, I have something to show you." Master Fung said.

"What about Rai? He just went off with Master Monk Guan." Kimiko pointed out.

"He does not need to know this just yet." Master Fung said. He led them out across the courtyard towards Guan's Shen Gong Wu vault. The building was kept locked and protected with far more safeguards than the old Temple ever had. Fortunately, Fung had a key and opened the door, allowing them all to step down into the muggy gloom that lay below.

Kimiko conjured a torchlight in her fingertips to guide their way down as they travelled down the spiral staircase towards the landing below. Master Fung had gone down much quicker than they had, and when the rest of the dragons got there they found him standing over a small ornate wooden table. Rested atop it large leatherbound book that was partially-opened.

"I have another Wudai Quest to present to you before I go." said the old monk.

"What's it about?" asked Kimiko.

"Have you ever heard of Typhon and Echidna?" Master Fung asked.

"10,000 times. Dojo won't give it a rest." Clay said.

"He does not know the true story." Master Fung said. "Or rather, he does not know one of the many true stories that have been told about this pair throughout all of history." He started flipping through the book until he reached a particular chapter. Nestled around the words **TYPHON** and **ECHIDNA** was a pencil sketch of a thousand snakelike tendrils that seemed to be wrapped tightly around on one another to create an enormous, macabre braid across the edges of the page. "We will concern ourself with but one of many legends," The old monk began. "According to the ancient text, Typhon and Echidna were the first of dragons, emerging from the mists as the world was being made. These monsters reigned over the Earth for a year and a day until a warrior -- some say he was a god -- managed to slay them with a lightning-bolt spear. But they were immortal, and once the warrior grew old and died they returned from the ocean to begin their reign of evil once again."

"But this time," The old monk continued. "They brought with themselves a powerful army. Echidna birthed forth powerful beings of fire, darkness, and air -- Wuya's Cyclops is one of them, as well as the ancient wild dragons that are the ancestors of Dojo and all the serpents, wyrms, wyverns, and dragons that walk upon the earth today. This time they were defeated again, not by a human warrior or a god, but by their own dragonspawn who rose against their tyranny and cast them down back into mists from whence they came. It was then that they bided their time; they realized that they were not strong enough to defeat both dragons and humans without a steadfast ally, one that would serve them and help them get the power that they need to retake and hold onto this world, _our _world, that they once held in their grasp."

"Let me guess," Kimiko said thoughtfully. "That ally was... Chase Young?"

"Chase Young served them," Master Fung confirmed. "As did Hannibal Bean. But Chase Young disregarded their commands to free them, and we were able to capture Bean and shake their confidence in him. But the elder monks and I have determined that they are still reaching out to find more powerful humans to help them in their plans."

"What is our quest, then, Master?" asked Omi.

"You are to prevent Tiamat and Echidna from forming an evil alliance with the warriors of the Heylin side." Master Fung said.

"But how can we do that?" Omi asked.

"I do not know," The old monk admitted. "All I can tell you is that they have but little time left before their influence over the world begins to fade. If you can stave off their attempts till then, the world will be safe... at least from them."

Clay whistled. "That's a mighty long list we've got though." He began counting on his fingers. "Cyclops, Pandabubba, Katnappe, Vlad, Tubbimura, Wuya, Raksha, Dyris... "

"Yeah, and with Raimundo hanging back now we're going to have a lot of work to keep up with." Kimiko said.

"If I did not think you could handle it, I would not have advanced any of you to Wudai Warrior." Master Fung said, his eyes twinkling.

"We _can _handle it!" Omi declared. "No challenge can conquer the might of the Xiaolin." He turned to his fellow Xiaolin dragons. "Come, Wudai Warriors! Let us prepare ourselves for this quest!"

Propelled by the littlest monk's enthusiasm, Kimiko and Clay ran up the stairs after him.

"I wonder how we're going to pull this off..." Kimiko murmured as they stepped out of the vault door into the fresh air of the courtyard.

"You and me both, Kimiko. You and me both." Clay replied.

* * *

**Author's Note: _These first three chapters were kind of like framing chapters, to set up character roles like Raimundo's special job, the new Wudai quest, and Jack's tale with the coffee cup as well as to introduce characters that need to be in for the rest of the story to make sense. I solemnly swear that the next ones will have more action and magic and character development in them. See you then, and, as always, read and review!_**


	4. Crown of Prophecy

**Shadir **-- They underestimate him a lot, don't they?

**Mad-Hatter-LCarol **-- Yah, I remember that episode. It was really funny. Control Freak's references to fandoms and fanboyish stuff is always really hilarious. I left out Jack's name to show how little they thought of him. In the first story that I wrote, he barely did anything at all.

**Crown of Prophecy**

"Do I get a castle?" Jack Spicer asked his sink as he brushed his teeth.

'_Oh, yes_.' The voice from the frothing water responded. '_It will be a vast citadel, fitting for the Prince of Darkness's throne. You shall have gargoyles, a moat, fountains of blood, a vast, booby-trapped maze, and--_,'

"An arcade?" Jack demanded. "A mini-golf course? An all-you-can-eat buffet with secret super-evil laboratory attached?"

'_Any amenity you desire shall be yours. In time.'  
_

"Excellent!" Jack said. "And all I have to do is find this new Shen Gong Wu! This is so fantastic, I have to dance!"

_'Please don't... Your Highness._' The voice responded. '_You would not wish to... ah... over-exert yourself before the battle. I sense the Shen Gong Wu you seek; it is almost about to reveal yourself. If I may, I counsel you to prepare yourself. Marshal your minions and ready yourself to confront the Xiaolin_.'

"My minions?" Jack mumbled, scratching his head. "Oh... now I remember! My newest Jack-bots just came in from the repair shop, and they are pretty sweet, if I do say so myself! Those Xiaolin morons won't know what hit them!"

'_I'm sure they won't._' said the voice. '_I have another gift for you, Your Highness._'

"Hmm?" Jack said. He reached into the water and felt something cold and slimy at the bottom of the sink. He felt it pulling against him, but when he wrenched it out of the sink it pulled out quite freely. "A necklace?" He said, looking at the tiny gem attached to a silver chain.

_'Not just any necklace.' _The voice said. '_It is the Amulet of Mayun... it is your ancient birthright_. _Wear it always, and you can never be defeated_.'

The evil boy genius slipped the necklace around his neck. "Sweet!"

* * *

The Xiaolin monks were having breakfast after seeing Master Guan and Master Fung off on their journey. 

"I'm gonna miss 'em," Dojo said, dabbing at his eyes with a pink frilled handkerchief.

"Isn't that your hanky?" Raimundo asked Clay.

"Hmm?" Clay said, looking up from his meal of bacon and eggs. When he saw Dojo blowing his nose loudly on the handkerchief, he shouted and stretched over the table to snatch it away from him. As he was doing that, Raimundo sneakily slid Clay's plate over to him and began quickly devouring his meal.

"Nice meal, Clay." Raimundo said, getting to his feet and walking away.

Clay looked down at his empty plate and quickly put two and two together. "Why, you no-good bacon thief!"

"Calm down, Clay!" Kimiko said. She picked up her plate and put it in front of Clay. "You can have the rest of my food. I'm not really all that hungry."

"That's alright, Kimiko." Clay said. "It ain't about the food, it's about the principle of the thing. NOW COME BACK HERE!" He ran off after Raimundo.

"Well, I guess Raimundo's feeling better now." Dojo remarked.

"Yes. He has returned to the world of practical joking. I am pleased." Omi said.

"It's a good thing, too, because Master Fung wants you guys to get a lot of stuff done while he and Master Guan are gone." Dojo said. He paused, then started scratching his neck with the flat side of his tail. "The first thing on the list -- buy me some skin cream, because I think I might be shedding!"

"Ew." Kimiko said.

"Wait... " Dojo murmured. "Wait, I know this itch. It's _verrrry _familiar. If I'm not mistaking, a new Shen Gong Wu is about to reveal itself. Either that, or I've got a _really _wicked case of scale rot."

"Let's go check with the scrolls." Kimiko suggested.

By the time they got to the Meditation Hall, Raimundo and Clay had returned. The cowboy's hair was sticking up in several places and Shoku warrior was still turning out sand from his sandals. "That wasn't fair at all," Raimundo was grumbling as he walked into the store. "Where did you get all of that power anyway? I thought _I _was the team leader."

Clay didn't respond, but merely smiled knowingly. "What's the new Shen Gong Wu, pardners?"

"It's called the Crown of Hope," Kimiko said as she unravelled the Shen Gong Wu scroll. "It's one of Dashi's first Shen Gong Wu but one of the last to be hidden. And... "

"And? What does it do? _Spill it, sister!_" Dojo screamed.

"First of all, I'm not your sister." Kimiko replied. "And second, _someone _spilled something on the scroll."

"Gravy." Clay said. When everyone turned and stared at him, he added, "Or so I'm told."

"Well, let's go." Dojo said. "The sooner we get this over with the better it'll be for my complexion." He grew to his gigantic size and motioned for the Xiaolin monks to climb aboard.

* * *

The mysterious new Shen Gong Wu was located in an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Dojo sailed over the vast sea, coasting ever lower to allow the Xiaolin monks a chance to scan the waters in search of the Crown. 

"I don't see anything," Kimiko said.

"Maybe we'll have to dive in and search for it." Raimundo suggested.

"Why bother diving when we can look from up here?" Clay asked. He reached into the sack of Shen Gong Wu that they had brought along and pulled out the Eagle Scope. "Eagle Scope, Eagle Scope, show me the Crown of Hope!" He held up the eagle-shaped binoculars and peered through them. "Not there... not there... not there... aw, there we go!" He lowered the Shen Gong Wu and pointed at something glinting far off in the distance. Dojo went zooming off in that direction and in what felt like just a few moments was floating across a small rock in the middle of the sea. And, perched atop that rock was a tiny unadorned golden crown, barely noticeable as the current lapped at its hiding place.

"Well, that was easier than I had anticipated." Omi.

"_Guess again, Baldy_!" boomed a sneering voice.

The monks (and Dojo) looked around only to see Jack Spicer floating down towards them via his heli-pack. Behind him was a small army of hovering Jack-bots, his usual comrades-in-arms,

"Spicer!" Clay said. "Ain't no _way _you're gettin' your hands on this here Shen Gong Wu!"

"_Au contraire!_" Jack replied, pulling out one of his old weapons, a large, chrome-plated sphere. "That's Spanish for, '_Eat plasmoid grenade'_, Xiaolin loser!"

He hurled the grenade down towards Dojo. Before it even hit them, it exploded, releasing a rapidly-expanding wad of sticky orange goo that swiftly enveloped the Xiaolin monks and their dragon.

"_Yuck!_" Kimiko groaned. "This is going to take forever to get out of my hair."

"Yeah," Jack said smugly. "It doesn't come off with shampoo or conditioner either, _no matter how much you try! _I know, I totally made like that on purpose, just for you." He dove down and flew past them, reaching for the Crown with one hand while waving good-bye to the passing monks with the other. "And now that I have this," He continued, embracing the crown as he flew back towards his Jack-bots. "there's nothing that can stop me from ruling the world forever!"

_Is that what you think? _Kimiko thought to herself fiercely. She screwed up her eyes and focused on her element. "_Wudai Mars -- FIRE_!" She screamed. Tendrils of flame sprang up from her body, burning away the goo that had ensnared her and her friends. She then grabbed the Longi Kite from their bag and strapped it on, taking flight in rapid pursuit of the evil boy genius.

"C'mon, you guys! Let's go kick butt!" Raimundo called as soon as they were free.

Jack turned around and saw that they had gotten free. More pressing to him, however, was Kimiko, who was flying towards him with a pair of giant dragon wings flapping behind her. He reached into his pocket, then remembered that he already used up his grenade. "I have _got _to start ordering these things in bulk!" He muttered. "Jack-bots, vaporize her!"

The robots turned their laser cannons towards Kimiko and opened fire. The blasts narrowly missed her, and while they were reloading she pulled out the Eye of Dashi and blasted three of them to smithereens. Four more raced forward to take their place, extending their arms towards her in an attempt to grab her before she could get any closer. Kimiko reached out and grabbed their arms, pulling them free from their sockets and sending them spinning into one another in a fiery explosion. She had just passed through the debris when the seven remaining Jack-bots began shooting at her.

"_Shimo Staff_!"

"_Big Bang Meteorang_!"

_"Blade of the Nebula_!"

In a brilliant flash of white, brown, and blue, the three other Xiaolin dragons came swooping down upon the robots, bringing their Wudai weapons to bear with deadly speed. The air was filled with robot parts as the monks surrounded Jack in midair, all four dropping down to a landing on Dojo's poor aching back.

"That's... that's not _fair!_" Jack yelled. "Do you have _any idea _how much those things cost!?"

"Not as much as these outfits that you just ruined!" Kimiko demanded. "_Eye of Dash_--,"

"_Yeow_!" Jack shrieked, clutching his chest. Kimiko paused for just one crucial second as a gleaming amulet of purest silver appeared around Jack's neck. The monks stared, confused, as it rose up towards them. A beam of light shot out of the amulet's gem. It swerved around Dojo, singed Omi's sleeve, cut past Raimundo and Clay, and hit Kimiko square in the forehead.

The next few seconds seemed to pass by like hours. Jack Spicer dropped the Crown and flew away, leaving it to fall in a slow spiral and vanish somewhere below, with Omi jumping down below after ig. He rocketed back upwards with the Crown in hand again, and he, Raimundo and Clay immediately turned to Kimiko, fearing the worst. The Xiaolin dragon of fire seemed unharmed but they could somehow sense that something was wrong.

"Are you okay?" Clay said finally.

"I'm... I'm fine." She yawned and seemed to sway in her seat. "I think I need a nap. Let's--," She yawned again. "Let's just go home."

* * *


	5. Storm Rising

**Storm Rising**

Kimiko could hardly sit up as they flew back to the Temple. Raimundo and Clay had to hold her in place to keep her from falling off every time Dojo made a sharp turn or dipped to avoid an aircraft or a low-lying cloud. When they arrived, she walked away from them vaguely and went off to her room, falling asleep as soon as she landed on the bed.

Master Guan's temple had a healer, a wizened old woman with a mat of curly hair and a bag of small herbs and potions that she prepared from the plants outside the monastery. She had tested Kimiko for all sorts of mundane injuries. The process had taken an hour, and during it Omi, Raimundo, Dojo, and Clay paced outside nervously.

When the healer finally emerged, she was immediately besieged with questions.

"What happened?" Dojo and Clay asked simultaneously.

"Will she be okay?" Omi questioned.

"Was it a head injury?" Rai asked. "I saw Jack's laser hit her in the head. It has to be a head injury."

The healer shook her head. "She has no physical injury that I could find. Whatever did this to her was magical in nature."

"So it wasn't a laser." Raimundo said. "That necklace that Jack was wearing... it must be some kind of mystic artifact. But where would he get something like that?"

"The library would have books on it." Omi said.

"That's where we'll go." Dojo said. "If this is magic, one of Guan's books will definitely tell us what it is, and hopefully how to cure it."

The three monks and their dragon made their way to the library. Each one was wondering what had happened to their friend, and how they would be able to save her from whatever evil spell had afflicted her.

* * *

Jack Spicer returned to his lair. A puddle of water on his front lawn called out to him, but he ignored it. The toilet in the hallway bathroom tried to get him to listen. He climbed down the stairs into the basement, ignoring the hissing coming from the pipes. He was in a profoundly bad mood and didn't need to hear anything from anyone for a very long time.

He managed to go three hours before slipping up and asking his Yes-bot for a cup of chocolate milk. As soon as it was brought over, his mystery counselor began to speak with him again.

'_Did you retrieve the Crown?' _

"No!" Jack snapped. "Go away, I'm trying to drink my calcium."

'_What? You f-- you must retrieve it at once! It is vital to our plan!_' The voice snapped.

"I'm going to get it, okay! Just not _now_!" Jack Spicer said.

The voice was silent for five blessed minutes. Then...

_'If--if you do not mind my asking, WHEN are you going to bring it? You do remember that it is your birthright, your chosen weapon, your greatest_--,'

Jack gritted his teeth. "I'm going to get it back as soon as I finish working on this new robot. Now go away!" He picked up the chocolate milk and poured it out onto the ground. The Yes-bot zoomed over and vacuumed up the liquid before zooming off, humming a tinny tune nonchalantly.

* * *

The Xiaolin dragons and Dojo were scattered throughout the library, crouched over heavy leatherbound tombs and scrolls of papyrus and parchment in search of something -- _anything _-- that could help them rescue Kimiko. They had knowledge of every amulet that had ever been devised and every spell in existence but none of them could find anything worthwhile.

"Maybe we should call Master Fung." Clay suggested.

"No, we can't interrupt them." Raimundo said. "We just have to keep reading so that we can find whatever is that's affecting Kimiko."

No one said anything for a while. They pored over book after book, scroll after scroll, only to find dead end after dead end. The hours seemed to blur together and no one had any idea what time it was until a monk rang the gong that signalled the end of dinnertime.

It was only a few minutes later that Dojo let out a yelp of surprise.

"Guys!" He said when the three Xiaolin monks looked around. "Guys, I think I found something." The monks got up and walked over to him. The little green dragon was reading a book entitled 'Old-School Evil: A Manual for Heylin Masters'. "Chapter Five is all about this really weird artifact," Dojo said. He flipped through the text until he reached a page somewhere near the middle of the book. One page featured a large, glossy illustration of a silver necklace while the page next to it described it in detail. "According to this, Jack's necklace is actually a mystical amulet belonging to Mayun, a sorcerer who was once tried to take over the world."

"Does the text tell of how to reverse its powers?" Omi asked.

"I'm getting to that!" Dojo snapped. He propped up the book in front of his snout and continued reading. "The Amulet is said to be able to drain the _chi _out of living beings. The only way to reverse it is to find Mayun and steal back the stolen _chi_."

"Where can we find this guy?" Raimundo said.

Dojo turned slowly towards him. "In the _Yin-yang world_." He said in an ominous voice.

The Xiaolin monks went down to the vault and retrieved the two Shen Gong Wu necessary to enter the Yin-Yang World. "Are we all ready?" Clay said as he took both Wu in his hands.

"Wait!" Omi said. "Someone should stay behind to guard the Temple."

"I pick you." Raimundo said, snatching the Wu away from Clay. "Keep the Temple safe for me. When I come back, I'm going to have Kimiko's _chi _with me."

"Uh... okay." Clay said.

"_Yin Yo-Yo!" _Raimundo shouted. "_Yang Yo-Yo!" _

The portal opened up in the middle of space, swirling around them all like a terrible storm. Raimundo closed his eyes as he stepped through it to that terrifying land where monsters and evil forces were all too commonplace. All he could wonder was how he was going to find Kimiko's _chi _and return in time to help his friends continue their battle against the forces of evil.

* * *

Omi and Clay decided to distract themselves by going on their nightly patrols throughout the Temple. Both were still worried sick over Kimiko but they both realized that there was nothing they could do while she was still unconscious and without her _chi_. The only thing that they could be thankful for now was that Chase Young, Wuya, and Hannibal Bean were out of action.

_BWAAAAAMP_

"What was that?" Omi whispered as he and Clay walked across the courtyard.

_BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMP_

"I dunno," Clay replied. "But it sounds like trouble."

"And it _smells _like... " Omi muttered.

"Jack Spicer has arrived!"

It was then that the two Xiaolin dragons finally saw the source of the eerie sound. Jack Spicer, self-proclaimed evil boy genius, was sitting on the back of one of his newest inventions. It was a giant robot, over 20 feet tall and almost half as wide. It had four arms, each one rotating at high speeds. Its chest was loaded with laser-cannons and gun turrets that were all cocked and pointed at the monks. Supporting its massive body was a pair of treaded feet, built like an assault tank.

"Say hello to my little friend!" Jack quipped.

"What _is _it?" Clay demanded.

"It's my super-duper new heavily-modified and heavily-fortified Transforming Bot Four Point Oh, designed to take down any four do-gooder monks that I want!" Jack explained.

"It does not matter how powerful your robot is," Omi said. "You will once again suffer a humiliating defeat."

"Oh yeah?" Jack said. He pressed a button on the Transforming Bot's console, causing all of its massive weaponry to lock itself onto Omi's big round head. "Bring it on, Cueball, _bring it ON_!"

* * *

**Brief Note: I can't remember how many times Jack has upgraded his robots before, so I just picked 4.0 as a pretty good estimate. I suppose it doesn't really matter anyway.**


	6. Show Me the Chi

**Show Me the Chi**

* * *

Raimundo had been in the Yin-Yang World only a few times in his life, and each venture was more unsettling that he cared to admit. The landscape was as warped and fluid like water, and nothing was as it seemed. The Dragon of the wind could remember when the whole of the Yin-Yang World appeared to be comprised entirely of crisscrossing rows of bottles ready to hold the chi of everyone in the world. But when he entered the mysterious realm this time, those priceless containers were nowhere to be seen.

What he could see however was the ever-faithful guardian of the world, the hulking black Chi Creature, snuffling around on all fours in search of something.

I bet he can lead me to where Kimiko's chi is. Raimundo thought. If he could find it that way, he wouldn't have to tangle with Mayun the sorcerer. Raimundo didn't want to spend more time than he needed to in the crazy mixed-up land of Yin-Yang.

"Hey!" Rai called. He let the Yo-Yos dangle from his fingers. An eerie light began to emanate from them, and the Chi Creature finally noticed him standing behind it. "Hey, ugly? You know where I can find some chi?"

The Chi Creature let out a howl and charged towards Rai. The Dragon of the wind nimbly stepped aside, then swung his two Yo-Yos out. The string wrapped around the Chi Creature's legs, bringing it down with an echoing crash. It screamed and flailed to get free, but for some reason the flimsy bit of string managed to keep an ironclad grip on the monster's legs. It wasn't going to go anywhere until Raimundo untangled it.

"Get up and run back home!" Raimundo jeered. He pulled the Yo-Yos away from the Creature and swung it around himself, vanishing with only a whisper. He managed to reappear just a few yards away, watching the Chi Creature search around for him. He thought that he was far enough to elude detection, and he was right. The Creature gave up after a few moments and bounded off into the distance, searching for something else to do during its eternal vigil. 

* * *

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMP!

"That noise is really starting to climb atop my nerves!" Omi grumbled. He and Clay were standing shoulder to shoulder (well, technically it was shoulder-to-waist) against Jack Spicer and his colossal Transforming Bot that had just invaded the Temple. The two monks were quickly scanning the surface of the machine, looking for the typical Spicer weak points in its armor or oversights in the weapons design. Usually, Jack would design his robots so that their own bubble-shields would reflect their laser fire back at them. This time, however, the Transforming Bot looked absolutely flawless.

"Surrender my Crown at once or face the consequences!" Jack Spicer demanded.

"Quit your belly-achin' and prepare for a whuppin'!" Clay said.

Jack smirked. "Oh, I will."

All four of the robot's titanium arms unlocked themselves and began rising up into the air. Clay launched himself upwards with a gigantic leap. He smashed both of his big fists into two of the Transforming Bot's arms with as much force as he could muster, but even that didn't do so much as scratch the giant machine.

"That all you got?" Jack asked.

"Wudai Crater -- EARTH!" Clay sent an enormous fissure splitting across the courtyard towards the Transforming Bot. Almost lazily, the robot activated its jet-pack and flew up several feet. It landed on the far side of the fissure, completely unaffected.

A dust storm whipped up around it a few moments later, sending tiny pebbles shooting through every nook and cranny of the robot, searching wildly for some hidden switch or secret self-destruct panel and finding none. Clay wasn't done yet, however. Three large boulders came sailing out of the sky. Two of them smashed uselessly into the robot's arms and the third hit it square in the chest, leaving a dent about three inches deep.

"Give it up, Clay! My Transforming Bot is 10 times as powerful as any of my other robots. It'll easily withstand anything you can send against it."

"On three?" Omi said to Clay, ignoring Jack's words for now.

Clay nodded. "On three."

"One," Omi began.

"Two," Clay said.

"THREE!" The two monks shouted in unison.

Cries of 'water' and 'earth' were deafened by the sound of tremorous earth and rushing water. With a stomp, Clay sent half of Master Guan's garden soil flying into the air, flowers and all. Omi sent twin torrents of scalding hot water shooting out of his fingertips towards the soil. Then the two Xiaolin monks swirled their earth/water combination through the air and sent it collapsing down on top of the Transforming Bot, sealing it in a coffin of dirt.

"Mudsicle!" Clay said. "Nice job, Omi."

"Thank you, Clay." Omi said, bowing.

BWAAAAAMP!

Omi and Clay turned back to where the fossilized Transforming Bot was standing. They had just barely caught a glimpse of the robot before the air was suddenly filled with hard clods of dirt, baked to a crisp by Jack's lasers and sent flying towards them like missiles by the force of an explosion. The monks were battered by the hail briefly before they ran back into the temple to take shelter.

"What're we gonna do now?" Clay asked.

Omi closed his eyes and tried to think. There had to be some weakness to the Transforming Bot. Jack could never build a decent robot, much less one that was nearly invincible. If they could find that weakpoint, they could send him and his robot toppling down. But where was it?

"HERE'S JACKIE!" Jack Spicer cackled. His robot grabbed the temple's entrance, smashing the windows and crushing the wood in its powerful grip. Omi leapt forward, darting around the robot's flailing mechanical fingers. "Get off, get off, get off!" Jack said. The robot tried to swat Omi like a fly, but the little monk was too nimble for that. He dodged a fist, leaving it to smash into the robot's knee. Five razor-sharp gnashing fingers tore into the dent that Clay had made onto the robot's chest earlier, revealing a knot of exposed wires that crackled and hissed when they touched the open air.

"I get it!" Clay said to himself. "Omi's going to make him beat himself up." The Dragon of the earth thought about jumping in then, but decided not to. Omi seemed to have it under control; anything he could do now would just distract him.

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMP!

"No!" Omi yelped. Clay looked up and saw Omi jumping higher and higher, towards Jack Spicer's command center on top of his robot. For half a second, it looked as if he was about to make it. But then a sinister glow began to form around Jack's neck. It took Clay less than a moment before he realized what it was.

"Omi, get down!" Clay shouted, but it was too late. The beam of light arced around Omi's head, wrapping around his body like a massive, shining snake. Clay could see the chi flowing freely from Omi's mouth, circling over him before slowing into the necklace around Jack's throat.

The littlest monk plummeted from the sky like a yellow-and-red falling star. Clay ran out of the destroyed temple entrance, his arms outstretched to catch his friend. The moment he caught him, he turned and ran, not for the Temple but for the Shen Gong Wu vault. Whatever this Crown did, it had to be very powerful for Jack to go to this amount of trouble to lay his hands on it. And Clay knew that whatever happened, he'd have to see to it that Jack never got to wear that Crown. 

* * *

The Chi Creature did not return to the chi bottle region.

Raimundo followed it for what felt like hours, always careful to stay hidden so that the Creature would not detect his presence. It made several stops in the other bizarre lands hidden within the shrouded mist, but not once did Raimundo catch a glimpse of anything that could contain Kimiko's chi. It looked as if he would have to find Mayun in order to get it back. But that was the hard part...

A sound rang out from somewhere up ahead. Rai cocked his head to one side to hear it more clearly. It was the sound of a horn, being blown to produce one long, mournful note.

I hope that's a clue. Rai cast the snuffling Creature another glance, then turned and bounded off in the direction of the horn.

As he ran, his heart gave a jolt when he noticed that the ground seemed to be dissolving underneath him. A gust of wind picked up, propelling him off of the vanishing ground to a cliff that seemed to be jutting out of the empty space. Raimundo grabbed the edge of the cliff, pulling himself on top of it. Rising to his feet, he heard the sound of the horn again, this time much louder. When he looked around, he could see that the cliff spanned much longer than it had appeared; it stretched far off into the horizon. Rai wouldn't need to walk that far, however. A cloaked figure was sitting just a few feet in front of him. Mayun, Rai thought, stepping towards him.

"Hey, are you Mayun?" Raimundo asked.

For a short while, the figure did not respond. Then...

"You seek the soul of your Dragon of fire." The thing in the cloak said.

"You have it?" Raimundo said. "Give it back... now!"

"Come and get it, Xiaolin warrior." The figure replied.

Raimundo dashed over to the cloaked man, punching it in the back of the head. It vanished for a split second, then reappeared behind him. He felt a pair of cold, slimy fingers pinching his throat from the back. "Lemme go!" Rai yelled. He lashed out with one foot, hitting the creature in what felt like its stomach. It let out a loud intake of breath, giving Rai a chance to turn and tackle it with as much force as he could muster. Both monster and Dragon toppled to the ground, locked in a powerful grapple.

He's strong. Rai gritted his teeth. He thought of Kimiko. But I have more to lose.

He managed to pin the cloaked figure under him. "Give me back Kimiko's chi!" He yelled, tearing the cloak off of Mayun's body. His eyes widened when he saw what was underneath. "No."

"Hello, Raimundo." said Hannibal Roy Bean, smiling back at him with mangled yellow fangs.****


	7. Turnabout

**Turnabout**

* * *

"It can't be... " Raimundo repeated, stepping away from the hideous chuckling vegetable lying before him. "How did _you _get here? Where is Mayun? Where is he keeping Kimiko's _chi_?" 

"You foolish boy!" Bean howled. "There _is no Mayun_. There hasn't been a Mayun for over 700 years! It's only been me and the Chi Creature here since that traitor Chase Young had me locked in here, many ages ago. _I _took your darling Kimiko's _chi _away from her!" He rose to a standing position, and when he did so Raimundo could see the jewel-studded necklace around Bean's neck. There were only four gems on it; two were glowing bright and yellow while two were dim and gray. "_ also _have your friend Omi's _chi_ in here now."

_Kimiko and Omi... _Raimundo thought quickly to himself. _Fire and Water... he has to be going for the complete set. And I just hand-delivered Wind to him_! Raimundo realized with a start. _I have to get out of here_.

"I guess you're thinkin' you just pieced together the rest of my plan, huh!" Bean laughed.

"Yeah, suppose I did? What are you gonna do about it?" Rai replied, trying to sound tough.

"MOBY MORPHER!" Hannibal Roy Bean thundered. The legume grew to at least 10 times his size, with six rows of gnashing tentacles and bright yellow eyes that glowed with an inner, magical fire. He towered over Raimundo, then whipped out his tendrils to knock Rai off his feet. The Shoku warrior darted out of the way just in time, but he wasn't safe yet. Bean bounded after him, twelve tentacles slicing through the air at him. They seemed to come from everywhere at once, so it was only a matter of time before one of them caught him in the chest, knocking him over and allowing Bean to carry him up off his feet.

The monstrous vegetable dangled Raimundo upside down by his legs, his head just inches away from Bean's gaping maw. "I have much bigger plans than that," Bean said. "Plans that will bring everything you know crumbling into nothingness. _That's _what I'm preparing, and there's nothin' you can do about it."

"That's what you think!" Rai said suddenly. He swung his arms forward, reaching into his pocket to pull out one of the Yo-Yos. Hannibal Bean stared at him quizzically as he dangled it from his fingers.

"What're--," Bean began slowly.

"_Yang Yo-Yo_!" Rai yelled. The evil vegetable screamed and relinquished his grasp on Raimundo's legs, but even then he couldn't get away. A portal opened up as the Yo-Yo spun through the air and the instant that Bean's waving tendrils touched the swirling energy, he vanished in a brilliant flash of light.

* * *

Clay did not have to explain to the healers what had happened to Omi. One look at the small monk's increasingly pale face and heavy-lidded eyes told them everything that they needed to know. 

"Take care of him, okay?" Clay said. "I'm gonna go see what I can do about that Spicer varmint."

The healers nodded and carried Omi up to his room. Everyone knew that there was nothing they could do for him until Raimundo returned from the Yin-Yang World, but Clay could still keep Jack busy until he did.

After the healers had snuck out of the vault, Clay turned to see what weapons he could arm himself with to stop Jack.

_BWAAAAAAAAAMP_!

"Oh, that's just great!" Clay muttered as the roof to the vault went flying off. The Transforming Bot stood above, with Jack Spicer sitting atop it. Even though Clay couldn't see his face, he knew that the evil boy genius was enjoying this.

"Give me the Crown!" Jack said for the hundredth time.

"For the hundredth time... _NO_!" Clay said.

"_And,_" Jack continued. "All of the Shen Gong Wu too!"

Clay grabbed the closest Wu at hand. "Oh, I'll give 'em to you, alright. _Thorn of Thunderbolt_!"

The lightning blast caught the robot in one of its four arms, sending it spinning out of control for a few moments. But Clay didn't give it any time to recover. Another jolt hit it in yet another arm, and a third knocked off the armored plating covering its knee. The robot swayed back and forth, clearly more affected by electricity than any of the other attacks that he and Omi had used before.

"Thorn... " Clay started again, levelling the Wu for another strike.

"Silk Spitter!" Jack waved his own Shen Gong Wu around, sending a stream of sticky spiderwebs cascading down on top of him. The Thorn of Thunderbolt went spinning out of his hand and Clay was pinned to the ground, immobilized.

_Aw, man_. Clay thought gloomily.

"Is this it?" Jack said. He sounded on the verge of maniacal laughter. "Is this for real? Did I seriously just win? Oh, it looks like I did! This is so awesome!"

He descended down from on top of his giant robot using his heli-bot. He then walked over to Clay, carrying a large black box with a whole in the center. "This is my Ionic Interro-bot 3,000,000! It's designed to _extract_-- that means, 'pull out' -- the information that I want from your tiny cowboy brain." The evil boy genius explained. "It's supposed to be really painful; I don't know, I haven't tested it myself yet. I guess we'll just find out from you, now won't we?"

Clay gritted his teeth. He had to stop Jack from getting the right information out of his mind. Maybe if he thought up a convincing lie...

Jack tossed aside Clay's cowboy hat and shoved the machine down on top of his straight blond hair. Clay could feel the machine clamping down on top of his skull and he could hear the uncomfortable sound of electricity crackling right next to his ear. He began focusing on his lie. _It's hidden up your behind, _he thought as vigorously as he could. _The Crown is hidden up your narrow behind, you no-good sneak._

"Interro-bot, Interro-bot, tell me this," Jack said as he punched in some kind of code into his wristwatch. "_Where is my Crown_?"

The Interro-bot continued to squeeze on his head, making Clay see funny colors in the back of his eyes. Unbidding, thoughts of the Crown that the Xiaolin warriors had captured earlier began to float into his mind. "Aaaaahaaaahaaaaa _no no no _aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" He tried to bring his lie to the front, but now he could barely remember what it was. _Dunno where the Crown is... it's definitely not in the... ah... it's not uh I don't know what elephant fish squirrel banana bread yogurt clearing brush ranch straw fabric textiles cattle Daddy Bailey rabbit stew at town not the Crown what Crown I don't aaaaaaah_.

"Don't bother resisting," Jack said smugly. "It's designed to get whatever I want no matter what you do."

_The Crown the Crown the Crown the Crown the Crown the Crown aaaaaaaah don't know where it is stop asking stop asking STOP ASKING_!

"I bet you're impressed, aren't you?" Jack said in a casual voice. Out of the corner of his eye, Clay could see him leaning against the wall next to him, filing his nails. "I really put a lot of thought into this plan. It's really important to me, and I couldn't afford not to pull out all the stops."

_Bring bring bring me the Crown!_

"Since you're being such a big help, I think I just might tell you what this Crown is for." Jack said.

_Blablablablablablabla meah noah speaka yoah Engleesh go away thank you very much hello_!

"It's basically the key to my new future. I'm tired of getting beat up by you geeks, and once I have it, I can make my dreams come true. I'll have the world on a string... " Jack winced then. "Note to self -- _never _say that phrase again."

_The Crown is... the Crown is... the Crown is in... _

"I'll be the undisputed Emperor of Darkness, the King of Kalamity, the President of Pain, the Sultan of Superevilcoolness, the Chief Justice--,"

_THE CROWN IS... _Clay's mouth opened involuntarily. "... is in the... "

"Jack Spicer!" boomed a voice that was strangely recognizable.

"What's that?" Jack murmured, getting to his feet. Clay could barely see the boy walking towards his robot.

The sound of an explosion rocked the vault and robot parts sprayed past Clay's head. He heard Jack screaming, then saw him run past him in the opposite direction as fast as he could.

A few moments later, Clay felt the machine suddenly stop clamping down on his head. As he slowly stumbled to his feet, he noticed three things. One was that the Transforming Bot had been completely ripped in half and was now lying in two pieces on the floor. The second was the portal from the Yin-Yang world that was sitting just outside the vault. And third was Hannibal Bean sitting directly in front of him, with Jack Spicer's interrogation robot in his tiny tentacles.

"How'd... you... get... back... here?" Clay said slowly, still too woozy to concentrate fully.

"I came to rescue you." Bean replied, sounding surprisingly warm.

"Rescue... ?"

"It's okay, Clay!" Raimundo said, stepping out of the portal. "I pushed him through the portal with just the Yang Yo-Yo. All of his evil _chi _is gone."

"Huh." Clay said. The idea of Hannibal Roy Bean as a creature of pure good was too hard to wrap his mind around right now. He decided to proceed directly to the most important matter. "Did you get Mayun to release Kimiko's _chi_? And Omi's too?"

"He has it." Raimundo said. Bean held up his necklace, with glowed with the presence of Fire and Water energy.

* * *

It took five minutes for them to siphon the _chi_s of the two fallen Xiaolin warriors back into their bodies. Omi and Kimiko woke up together, surrounded by their fellow warriors and the other monks who lived at the monastery. 

"Are you okay?" Raimundo asked.

"I'm fine... " Kimiko said.

"I am most appreciative of your swift rescue." Omi said.

"What happened?" Kimiko asked.

"Spicer tried to steal your _chi_. Er... _chi_s." Clay explained. "We got them back though, apparently thanks to Hannibal Bean."

"_What?" _Kimiko and Omi exclaimed in unison.

"I know how you feel." Raimundo replied. "It's a slightly long story. Just sit tight and I'll explain how it happened."

* * *

Meanwhile, Jack Spicer was returning to his lair for the third time in so many hours. The voice in the water accosted him the moment he entered his lair. 

_Do you have it? _The voice demanded. It sounded almost apprehensive.

Jack craned his neck towards it, glaring darkly. He reached into his pocket and held out the small, glittering object in his hand. It was the Crown. "Yeah." He said.

The voice paused.

_Excellent_.

* * *


	8. Last Chance

**Last Chance**

Hannibal Roy Bean had consented to be locked into the Meditation Hall overnight and be watched over in turns by one of the Xiaolin monks while the others slept. Their sleep was still uneasy, however; at any moment, they feared that they would hear the sound of the warning gong being struck to signal that Bean had betrayed them by attacking the Temple. So, at dawn, the four monks and Dojo decided to discuss what to do about him.

"We can't trust him." Clay declared over bacon and eggs. "He's been tryin' to destroy us all since the day we met him. If we keep him around, he'll be all over our Shen Gong Wu like stink on a skunk."

"I agree. That guy gives me the heebie-jeebies!" Dojo said, shivering as he cast a wary glance towards the door to the Meditation Hall.

"Guys, don't forget how he got here." Raimundo said. "He travelled through the Yin-Yang Portal with only one of the Yo-Yos. _All _of his evil _chi _is now locked in a bottle somewhere in there, and there's no way he'll even try to get it back. Besides, we need all the help we can get."

"Who says it even worked?" Kimiko pointed out. "He could be immune to it."

Omi piped up next. "Yes. Legends speak of certain Heylin magic that can even overcome the powers of the Shen Gong Wu. This could be some of Bean's trickery."

"There's a lot of things that need doing." Raimundo said. "The Temple still needs watching, and there's a lot of stuff that needs to get done around here while the Master Monks are gone."

"Ooh, speaking of them, I just replied to a letter that they sent us yesterday." Dojo said.

"Where are they?" Omi asked.

"Vegas." Dojo responded. "Chase Young is proving _really _elusive. Anyway, I've got to go to the vault to get my pen back. I must have dropped it while writing back to them."

"Well, don't bother them, okay?" Raimundo said. "I can handle this. _We _can handle this. And what _we _are going to do is let Hannibal Bean out and make him tell us everything he knows about what's going on with the Heyin side."

Kimiko, Omi, and Clay looked at one another. They had not yet told him about the new Wudai Quest that Master Fung had assigned them just before his departure. And throughout all of the turmoil of the past few days, they had not even gotten around to starting their rounds throughout the world to stop Typhon and Echidna from finding an ally. And with Omi and Kimiko still weak from the Mayun necklace's terrible spell, that task would be even harder than they had thought before.

Raimundo finished off the rest of his plate and got up to go into the Meditation Hall. As soon as he was gone, the other three Xiaolin dragons started whispering in low voices.

"We have to begin soon." Kimiko said. "Typhon and Echidna are probably calling the Heylin side about now."

"How're we gonna slip away from Raimundo? I don't think that Master Fung wants us distracting him with this quest or he would've told him." Clay said.

The three monks looked up and saw Raimundo and Hannibal Bean striding (well, Bean was shuffling more than striding) into the dining area.

"Hey, guys, he says he knows about that Crown we rescued yesterday. It might explain why Jack wanted it." Raimundo said.

"I guess it's worth a listen." Clay said. "Although I still don't trust him."

"I don't blame you, pardner." Bean said softly. "I used to be a real outlaw, didn't I?" He glanced around nervously, his eyes meeting the face of each of the Xiaolin warriors standing around him. "I hope my knowledge can be put to _good _use for once."

"Okay, spill the beans... uh... Bean." Kimiko commanded.

"Let's see... " Bean murmured. "Aw, there we go, now I remember. The Crown of Hope is actually a really powerful Shen Gong Wu that was made long ago by Dashi. It was designed, along with the Sword of the Storm, to contain the awesome powers of natural elements. But unlike the Sword, which held only weather's destructive power, the Crown holds the ability of nature to reshape the world. It's really supposed to be a powerful Wu, and if it were to fall into evil hands it would be... well... catastrophic."

"Thank heavens we have it hear in the vault." Omi said.

Just then, Dojo came running out of the vault. "The Crown of Hope!" He shouted. "It's gone."

* * *

Back at Jack Spicer's lair, the Dark Prince of the Universe was holding court, electronically, of course. He had purchased a throne chair that had once belonged to the Queen of some country or another and was sitting in it, his legs crossed in a languid pose. Perched atop his head was the magical Crown, polished to a shine but still unactivated. At his side was a bowl of pure water, made slightly muddy by the dark shapes swirling inexorably within. And before him were computer monitors, hovering and swivelling before him and bearing the faces of the mighty warriors of the Heylin. 

"So, little Jackie's come back for another evil alliance, huh?" Katnappe said. "This'll be a laugh."

"Perhaps the small fish should not play where the sharks choose to roam." The ninja Tubbimura said, chortling.

Jack merely smirked. "I'm not a small fish. In fact, _you _guys are fish, the teeniest of them all."

"Heh," laughed Vlad. "You are big time boss man now, eh? Well, what do you have to be saying to us?"

"I just called to give you the deal of your lifetime. One last big score, for all the marbles. Because when the chips are down, and the umpire's about to count you out, you're going to want to be on the winning team, or else the game'll be over for you, and no dice." Jack said.

No one said anything for one... two... three...

"_What!?" _Katnappe demanded.

"I'm offering you the chance to surrender now and become my servants forever." Jack said.

All three of the villains burst out laughing.

"Did you hear that, fat boy?" Katnappe said between bursts of gut-busting laughter. "He wants _us _to _surrender _to _him_!"

"That is very amusing!" Tubbimura said, roaring with amusement. "You are a very amusing man, Jack Spicer."

"Maybe you should set your sights a _lee-_tle lower than us, hmm? Maybe take over day care center or something low-key like that and work your way up to maybe a supermarket or a mini-mall." Vlad suggested.

"Yuk it up all you want!" Jack yelled back at them. "I was just giving you a chance to maybe make your way out of this in one piece. I guess you don't mind being thrown in a dungeon for all eternity when I make my new kingdom. That's okay. I don't care anyway. Nyah nyah nyah!"

With a push of a button, he shut down the screens. "I'll show them! I'll show the whole world!" Jack said to his strange advisor lurking within the water.

_'I am sure you will, Your Highness.'_ The voice said.

"Good! Good! Now, can I activate the Crown?" Jack said, He took off the Wu and began polishing it with his new red cape.

'_Soon._'

"How soon?" Jack Spicer demanded.

'_Once you travel to the ancestral seat of your kingdom and sit atop the true throne of evil, THEN you may activate the Crown._'

"Well, where is that? Come on, I need details and I need 'em fast!"

_'Go to Hawk Rock, and all will be clear_!'

Jack strapped his helipack over his cloak and slipped the Crown into his pant's pocket. It wouldn't do for him to lose it now, not when he was this close to conquering everything.

* * *

"You! You did this!" Clay shouted, pointing at Hannibal Bean. 

The legume raised his tendrils cautiously, his eyes wide with alarm. "I've reformed! I've changed my ways! Don't pin this one on me."

"Calm down, Clay!" Raimundo said. "It couldn't have been him. He's been in full view of at least one of us ever since he crossed through the portal."

"Spicer." Kimiko asserted. "It had to have been Jack Spicer. How did he figure out where it was?"

Clay suddenly turned red. "He... uh... he may have picked my brain a bit, with one of them newfangled robots that he's been usin' lately." He stared down at his boots, then quickly looked up at the others. "I swear I didn't tell him, though. I kept my brain empty and my lips sealed."

"Ugh!" Raimundo groaned. "Fantastic. We've lost the most powerful Shen Gong Wu since the Arcana to _Jack Spicer_. Who knows who he's probably given it to. For all we know, Wuya or Chase Young or some other villain we haven't even met yet is sailing towards us to blow Master Guan's temple to smithereens." He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. "What are we going to do, you guys?"

"We could divide ourselves into teams." Clay said. "There are five of us--,"

"Six." Bean said.

"_Six _of us," Clay gritted his teeth. "We can leave one or two back here to defend the Temple while the others fan out and comb the area for Jack."

"Good idea." Kimiko said. "Jack probably has it in his safe, if he hasn't sold it yet."

"I will travel to Jack Spicer's lair." Omi said. "I know the combination!"

"1-2-3, Omi." Raimundo retorted. "_Everyone _knows the combination. I mean, it's _Jack_." He turned to look at the others. "Still, Omi can go to the lair. Now that his Transforming Bot's wrecked -- _again _-- his security is definitely pretty weak. One monk can take out the Jack-bots still lying around."

"I'll go to the mountains, to see if anyone's approaching from there." Clay said.

"I'll run backup with Dojo." Kimiko said. "If anyone needs help, just fire your element into the air."

"And I guess Bean and I will be guarding the Temple." Raimundo said.

"That's right." Bean replied.

"From Spicer, or from you?" Clay muttered, but Bean didn't seem to hear.

Those who were leaving went to the vault to choose their Shen Gong Wu carefully. Omi felt comfortable with the old stand-by, his Orb of Tornami. Kimiko let Dojo fly her around and brought only the Eye of Dashi. Clay, after the battle against Jack, decided to travel heavy, taking with him the Fist of Tebigong and the Cannon Blaster ("A guy can't be too careful anymore" he had said, huffing and puffing as he loaded the Cannon into the trunk of the Silver Manta Ray).

"So... " Bean said as he watched Omi, Clay, Kimiko, and Dojo depart. "Do you play air hockey?"

Raimundo held up a ball and two paddles, which he had apparently been carrying around him the whole time. "You're on."

* * *

**Author's Note: Yeah, they haven't learned their lesson yet. They're splitting up again, and this time into smaller groups than before. Hey, maybe they still have a shot, right? I took the liberty of placing Hawk Rock, which is an actual place from the show, in the mysterious 'mountains' region that Clay will be guarding. If he's lucky, he might get a rematch one-on-one without any of Jack's robots interfering. But since when has he been lucky... ?  
**


	9. UFO

**U.F.O.  
**

Jack Spicer's mansion looked the same as it always did, except with a slight reduction in the amount of Jack-bots that were floating around. Usually, the building was swarming with guards but when Omi arrived, there were only two Jack-bots on duty. He didn't even need to fight them; he just leapt through an open window and descended down into the basement.

Jack had scattered his belongings all over his lair. Robot equipment from a thousand or more bizarre machines tripped Omi up as he stumbled through the dark and gloomy place. "Jack Spicer could learn a lesson in cleanliness." Omi muttered as he picked up a brown sock that was sitting in an upturned bowl of pudding. If the Crown was here, there was no way Omi would find it. He would be surprised if even _Jack _could find it in all of this mess. He decided to try the vault next. At least that couldn't be as messy as the rest of Jack's lair.

"Yech!" As soon as he opened the vault, several pounds of pencil shavings, used napkins, old toothpicks, and plastic forks and spoons came pouring out. Omi managed to jump out of the way just before the mess nearly buried him. "How is any of this Shen Gong Wu?" He demanded, tenatatively picking through the mess in search of the Crown.

"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!" A tinny mechanical voice boomed. "ACTIVATE SYSTEM ALPHA ANNIHILATION X!"

Omi turned quickly, spotting the closet door on the opposite side of the basement sliding open to reveal rows of Jack-bots. Instinctively, he assumed a combat stance. The Jack-bots just stood there. There were twenty of them, lined up in neat rows of five and completely immobile. After watching them hover in place for five minutes, Omi cautiously left the crane stance and padded towards the robots. He spent a few more moments examining their blank, steely visages, then tapped the first robot with his knuckle. It swayed back and forth before collapsing, knocking over all of the other robots like dominoes. It was then that he noticed that the Jack-bots were all made of cardboard.

"_This _is the fearsome Alpha Annihilation X system?" Omi said mockingly. He turned away in disgust, stumbling over yet another glass of water that Jack had carelessly left lying around. As he hit the floor hard, he noticed a steady hissing sound coming from behind him. He had expected it to be a gas leak, but when he bent down towards it, he noticed that it was coming from a small shaft of light was emerging from a crack in the floorboards. "Hello?" He said, waving his hand into it. To his surprise, it felt solid.

"Hello," said a voice from the light.

"Who are you?" Omi asked.

"I am... the King of Storms."

* * *

Clay stood atop the tallest mountain in the mountain range. Up there, he could see all across the sea, and view the vast plains that surrounded Master Monk Guan's Temple. If anything was approaching from any direction, he would see it before it got within shouting distance. And with the arsenal that he had brought with him, he would be ready no matter what Jack Spicer or anyone else came up with. 

As he waited there, he got to thinking about the way the battle between good and evil had been progressing so far. It looked like they were winning. Chase Young had been rousted during the Dragoncircle Ceremonies several weeks before, and Hannibal Bean's evil had apparently been purged from him by magic. But the Xiaolin Warriors were still making mistakes. They had been helpless to stop Chase Young from gaining access to the Lunarcanum and the Terrarcanum, and they couldn't stop the old Xiaolin Temple from being destroyed during his invasion. They couldn't even stop Kimiko and Omi from losing their _chi_s. Even though all of those problems had worked out alright, they still kind of worried Clay. What if they messed up on something big in the future, something that they couldn't fix in the end. What would they do then?

_Raimundo will work it out_. Clay assured himself. _Master Fung made him team leader for a reason. I'm sure he knows what he's doing. _

But another, even more worrisome part of himself, doubted that. _You don't really buy that, don't ya, cowboy? I bet you think you could do a better job_.

_No, I don't. _Clay insisted. _I never wanted to be the Shoku Warrior. That's for Omi and Raimundo, not me_.

Clay quickly stifled that other part of himself. He didn't need to distract himself with internal conversations. Not while Jack Spicer was messing around with one of the most powerful Shen Gong Wu ever created. "Don't need that, no sirree," He said to himself, and tried to put all such thoughts out of his mind. He had to concentrate on the matter at hand.

A faint whistling sound seemed to echo from above his head. Clay looked up and saw a tiny dark shape moving rapidly through the sky. _What's that? _He thought. It moved closer. _I sure hope it ain't a bad guy._

* * *

"Maybe Jack won't attack this time." Dojo suggested. He and Kimiko were on busy patrol over Master Guan's monastery, keeping a close watch out for the forces of evil. 

"I doubt it too." Kimiko admitted. "He's probably still trying to forge an evil alliance with one of the other villains."

"Then... why are we out here?" Dojo asked.

"Hey, he _might _attack." Kimiko said. "We have to keep prepared, just in case."

"Oh." Dojo closed his eyes, gently drifting around and around in a circle. Kimiko had chosen the most boring of the four tasks, but it was still important. The Heylin side had almost won before by splitting them in half and sending them scurrying around to all corners of the globe. They were nearer now than they had been before, but they would still need speedy backup; Kimiko was perfectly placed now to provide this to her friends. Except for Omi, of course, but all he had to contend with was Jack Spicer.

Kimiko peered off at something in the distance. "Dojo, did you bring the Eagle Scope?"

"No. Why? Did you see something?"

"I think so." Kimiko said. "C'mon, let's fly over for a closer look."

* * *

Raimundo and Hannibal Bean had just finished several rounds of air hockey and were going up to relieve two of the other monks on guard duty. One of them was a very old, and very fat cook who looked immensely thirsty. "The fountain's dried up, young monk." He wheezed, wiping his sweat with the back of his hands. Rai glanced across the courtyard to see that he was right; without the towering spouts of water that issued forth from the top of the waterspout, the fountain looked like it had been fossilized. 

"Here, try this." Bean said. He handed the monk a cool bottle of water, from the same case that he and Raimundo had been drinking from while playing sports. Normally, the cook would have been suspicious but right now he was too parched to care. He removed the cap and poured the freshing drink down his mouth, stopping only once to cough and choke as some of it sprayed into his nose. Rai watched the cook and his companion walk off then and followed Bean out into the courtyard where they could begin guarding the Temple.

"Whatever happened to that master of yours?" Bean asked. "Guan?"

"Oh, he and Master Fung left a while ago. They're hunting down Chase Young." Rai explained. After a moment's thought, he said, "You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?"

"Naw, he's secretive when he needs to be." Bean said. "It ain't real likely that Fung and Guan are gonna catch him unless he wants them to. Still wish them the best of luck, though. They're gonna need it."

Raimundo nodded. He knew firsthand how powerful Chase Young could be. The Heylin warrior was a strong and clever fighter and his army was unparalleled whether in human or feline form. If some of the skeletons he had raised earlier still served him, then defeating him would be tougher still. He could only hope that Master Fung and Master Guan had a good plan so that they could bring in Chase before he could join up with Wuya or another of their dormant enemies.

"Raimundo!" said Bean.

"Hmm?" Rai looked down at the diminutive creature.

"Look up there!" He pointed one tendril at the sky. Raimundo squinted in the direction that Bean was pointing.

"I don't see... " He murmured. _There it is_! He narrowed his eyes even further. It looked like something was falling towards them at a violent speed. "C'mon, let's go check it out."

"Who's gonna watch the Temple?" asked Bean.

"Good point." Rai replied. "_I'll _go, _you _watch." He handed Bean a keyring. "These are the keys to the Shen Gong Wu vault. Only use them if there's an emergency."

"Emergency?" Bean murmured.

"Fire raining from the sky, demons tunnelling their way to the surface world, an advancing army of darkness marching onto the Temple with torches and spears... you know, typical Xiaolin business."

Bean looked oddly nervous as Raimundo took off. For a moment, _just _a moment, he felt a twinge of worry as he soared into the sky, borne by a gust of wind. Then he dismissed it. It wasn't worth worrying about. Hannibal Bean would be fine, alone with the monks and all those Shen Gong Wu.


	10. Coronation by Lightning

**Coronation by Lightning**

Kimiko and Dojo approached the hurtling figure as quickly as they dared. It was falling extremely quickly, and getting too close would most likely be dangerous. But as they drew nearer, they realized that they couldn't quite make out its features. It was swathed in an inky black cloak and quivery somehow, as if it was being viewed as a blurry photograph.

"What _is _that?" Kimiko asked.

Before Dojo could formulate a response, they heard a shout from below. They looked down only to see Clay standing atop the Silver Manta Ray flying toward them. Closely behind him was Raimundo, surfing on the winds.

"Did you guys see it too?" Raimundo asked.

"Yeah." Kimiko motioned towards the figure, which was maybe less than 20 feet above them. "Let's get out of the way."

"I'll grab it." Clay volunteered.

He pulled out the Cannon Blaster and loaded it atop the immobile Silver Manta Ray. Laying a finger atop it, he whispered the Shen Gong Wu's name and was suddenly and rudely transformed into a living cannonball. The nose of the weapon tilted from left to right until it was pointed directly at the plummeting figure. Clay was then shot out of the cannon, zooming through the air with his arms outstretched. He gritted his teeth, expecting to latch onto a struggling creature that he would have to wrestle into submission. But even as his arms closed around the cloaked figure, it seemed to deflate like a balloon. Clay's eyes widened with surprise as the creature went slack. Before he could compose himself however, it started flowing around him, wrapping itself around his body like a hideous living straitjacket.

"Hey, leg-g-go!" He grunted, clawing at the thing as it flowed all over him. The cloak stuffed itself into his mouth, gagging him, and wrapped itself around his eyes. Even without sight he could feel his momentum disappearing. Soon, he too would be falling to Earth to be dashed against the unrelenting mountain rock or, worse, drowned in the deep blue sea.

"Clay!" shouted Raimundo.

"We have to help Clay!" Kimiko yelled. His friends sounded muffled to his covered ears.

_What are they taking so long? _Clay said, starting to feel woozy.

"Don't shoot it!" Rai snapped. "You'll hit Clay!"

"What _else _am I supposed to do?"

"How about _not _killing Clay?"

"Got any bright ideas on how to rescue him then, Mr. Shoku Warrior?"

_I guess I'm going to have to save myself. _Clay thought grimly. _Good luck; I'll definitely need some of it. _

* * *

Jack Spicer was hovering about two hundred feet away, a Slurpee in one hand and a pair of binoculars in the other. The binoculars were pressed firmly against his eyes and he was watching everything that was going on.

"I thought they would be guarding it better." Jack said. "They have to guarding it better than _that_."

The Slurpee spoke. '_They ARE guarding it, Your Highness, but I have most cleverly taken precautions.'_

"What kind of precautions?" Jack asked.

_'Ones that will keep them quite occupied.__Now, fly onward, towards your destiny!_'

Jack rocketed forward. As he flew, he checked constantly that the Crown was still there. "I still can't believe this is really happening." Jack said. "I never win. Not for real. The only times I get close are when the Xiaolin monks screw up really badly. Could my luck really be getting this good?" If someone had told him just a week ago, the day before he met his spectral advisor, that he would soon rule the planet, he would have agreed out loud but in secret would have questioned his own ability. All of his best-laid plans had failed so far and he had been on the verge of despair. But that was before he had his new advisor. With this powerful being by his side, _nothing _could stand in his way. Not the Xiaolin monks, not Wuya, not Hannibal Roy Bean, not Chase Young...

_'Your regrettable failures of the past are just that -- a thing of the past.' _The voice reminded him. '_You have recognized and acknowledged your true heritage, and now you are invincible._'

"Invincible!" Jack said with a whoop. "Yeah! I _like _that!" He descended down onto Hawk Rock, his boots making contact with the meticulously formed surface. He looked around then. "Dude, where's my Throne?"

'_In the mouth of the bird.' _

Jack Spicer knelt down into the carved mouth of the Hawk. Without his goggles on, he could see something vivid and sparkling lying within. "I think I see it." He reached into the mouth, pulling out everything he could find. As he dumped it on the ground beside his Slurpee, his hands quickly became covered with dirt and mildew. "Yuck, this stuff is old!"

_'Ancient they may be, but they are the tools with which you shall carve your empire. Look upon them now!_'

Jack finally turned and look at the prizes that the Slurpee had promised him. He picked one up nervously, wiping off the grime. It turned out to be a blood-red stamp. The image underneath was of a pair of serpents in a circle, each one devouring the tip of the other's tail. He set it aside and picked up the next object; a gleaming sword with an obsidian hilt and a blade so well-polished that Jack could use it as a mirror. The third and final object was a large horn, dusty because of its age but radiating with untold energies.

"What do they do?" Jack questioned.

_'The Stamp of Ouroboros shall your seal. Through its power you can bring the world to its knees._' The creature said. Jack picked up the Stamp again, gazing at it with newfound respect. _'The Sword of Tartarus shall be your chief weapon. It is filled with strong magic that will allow it to defend you vigorously of its own volition. No man can defeat you so long as you have it with you.' _Jack picked up the sword with his other hand, feeling that it was not very heavy at all. _'And lastly is your Horn of Splendor. It will muster your armies and allow them to walk upon the earth and enforce your will throughout the realms of mortals.' _Jack placed the Stamp and the Sword beside the Horn and let them lay there. _Together with your Amulet of Mayun and your Crown, these five sacred tools will ensure your eternal reign._'

"Now can I put the Crown on?" Jack asked.

'_As you wish, Your Highness._'

Jack closed his eyes and placed the Crown on top of his head. He took several deep breaths and waited.

He felt nothing.

_Come on... _He thought anxiously. He didn't have all day to spend there, sitting like a loon on top of an ugly rock in the middle of nowhere. "Do something!" He shouted, raising his arms up into the air.

Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled over ahead. Jack was stunned to see the bright afternoon suddenly become dark and stormy. The air was humming with energy; _something _was going to happen, and it was coming soon.

"Give me your best shot!" Jack Spicer cried, rising to his feet.

He got his wish.

A bolt of lightning shot through the sky directly at him. The evil boy genius was hit full on in the head. He let out a scream and almost jumped, but something told him that he had better stay completely still. The Crown on his head was pulsing now, sending out an unearthly glow. He stumbled backwards, falling flat on his behind. _Oh, what have I done?_

* * *

Clay was starting to lose consciousness when the cloak suddenly withdrew. He had fallen flat on his back on top of the SIlver Manta Ray's hood, flailing in attempt to get loose from its strangling grip. His friends were trying their best to destroy it without harming him but were failing. As if by a miracle, the thing crawled off him and slithered away without so much as a passing threat.

"Ohh," Clay mumbled as he looked up to see the Sun become enshrouded in shadow. "Who turned off the lights?" He asked.

Dojo was trembling. "S-s-something b-b-b-big's going on!" The dragon said.

"Let's go find Omi." Kimiko declared.

"We don't have _time _to get him." Raimundo said. He pointed at a faint sparking coming from somewhere in the mountains. "Whatever's causing this looks like it's hiding back there. Let's go get it before it does any serious damage."

Without any further discussion, Raimundo took off.

Sighing irritably, Kimiko and Dojo followed, pursued closely by Clay.

The three monks and their dragon found their way to Hawk Rock. The familiar stone sculpture stood as imposing as ever, but what they were really interested in was what -- or _who _-- was sitting in the on top of it.

"Jack Spicer!" Raimundo snarled.

The evil boy genius was in the middle of being struck by lightning. It came in the form of one long, continuous bolt that seemed to be aiming at something on top of his head. The Xiaolin monks didn't need to get closer in order to tell that it was the Crown. The awful illumination that seemed to emanate from it, in varied hues of green and yellow, were sign enough that it was their lost magical object. And oddly enough, sitting beside Jack on Hawk Rock was a Slurpee and a bunch of old moldy trinkets.

Jack didn't seem to have noticed them. Raimundo, Kimiko, and Clay jumped down onto the Hawk's head, landing in tight formation across from Jack. It was then that the pale boy's eyes finally fluttered open. He stared around for a few moments, then noticed their presence. All of a sudden, his face got a bit paler.

"Give us back the Shen Gong Wu!" Kimiko demanded.

Jack didn't answer.

"Begone," said a deep unnatural voice.

"Who said that?" Raimundo asked.

"It is I! Mayun the Great! One and only true servant of the King!"

Before their very eyes, the cloaked figure that had almost strangled Clay rematerialized. This time, it was not just a bundle of rags. It had taken the form of a stooped, shadowy man, about as tall as Clay with broad shoulders and a narrow waist and legs. In one hand was a set of heavy nunchucks. In the other was a long sharp rapier. "You shall not harm the King so long as I draw breath."

Raimundo cocked his head to one side. "Is that right? Well, _bring it_!"

Mayun walked forward slowly, his rapier slashing through the air as his nunchucks began to spin with the speed of a helicopter's blades. "Stop this foolish mission or you will perish."

"Hey... psst ... " Clay murmured to Kimiko as Rai squared off against Mayun. "While he keeps old tall dark and ugly busy, why don't we see if we can get that Crown from Jack?"

Kimiko nodded and the two monks began to carefully sidle away from Raimundo and Mayun and towards Jack Spicer. But Mayun noticed what they were doing. Instead of coming after them himself, however, he split himself into three equally large and formidable pieces. One remained in front of Raimundo, while the other two ran over to Kimiko and Clay. Kimiko's opponent was carrying a pair of deadly _sais _-- or twin daggers, while Clay's foe had opted for a giant club made of shadow.

"None shall pass!" The three Mayuns said in unison.

"We'll see!" Raimundo yelled, and the three monks charged into combat.

* * *


	11. King Jack

**King Jack**

Omi cradled the tiny bulb of flame in his little hands. It looked hot, though as it touched him he could feel no burning. The being -- this King of Storms -- looked like it was made out of pure light. Yet it could talk.

"I am the King of Storms." The King said in a voice that was much too loud for its body.

"Yes, I believe we have covered this previously." Omi said.

"I am grateful to you for rescuing me. I have lain trapped underneath this house for a hundred years." The King explained. "So long I have spent, sealed in a tomb of mud and roots -- oh, it's almost too hard to think about!"

"What were you doing underneath Jack Spicer's house?" Omi asked.

The King let out a loud sobbing noise. "It is a long story of misery and woe. I shan't bother you with it!"

Omi raised an eyebrow. "If that is what you wish, so be it." He made to set the bulb down, but before his fingers could even touch the floor it shrieked piteously.

"No, no, I don't want that at all!" The bulb said. "I'll tell you... I'll tell my tragic tale! It has driven many grown men to tears!"

The littlest monk nodded sagely. "Begin."

"It started so long ago, on the Ring of Fire Island where dragons dwell! I was their King, beloved and exalted by all those who breathe fire and crawl on their buttocks! Sadly, I then made the most grievous error of trusting the sorceror, the evil Mayun who serves Echidna and Typhon. I thought I was protecting my people, but I cast them down into further and further despair! I gave Mayun control over dragons, power of their lives and deaths, and showed him and his evil partner the source of our immortality -- the Lau Mang Long soup. And soon as they got their claws on that potion, they had no more need of me! They buried me in the earth and fought the dragons to near extinction! Many died in that conflict, and my sorrow grew too great to bear. I tried to disappear from this world, I confess, I tried very hard."

"How did you remain behind?" Omi queried.

The King sniffed loudly. "I could not abandon my people. I had to stay; I had to try and avenge the ones who had been slain during the attack."

Omi thought about what the King had just told him. _Mayun... _that name was familiar. It was the creature who had stolen Kimiko's _chi _and almost devoured his own. The being had been trapped in the Yin-Yang World. Could it have escaped somehow since then? It did not seem possible to him but Omi did not want to take that risk. Especially if this King, weepy as he was, could help them defeat Typhon and Echidna.

"Do you know anything about this Mayun?" Omi asked the King.

"He is a sorcerer of great power," The King began. "He once sought to rule the world, but bent the knee to Typhon and Echidna and became their loyal soldier. I had thought him dead once, however now that I have awoken I can sense him! He is here! And you must take me to him!"

"Pipe up." Omi snapped. The King of Storms did not know slang so he could not correct him. "If what you say is true, then I must return to the Temple at once. My friends could be in grave danger." When the King began sobbing again, Omi added, a bit too quickly, "And Mayun may be waiting there for you."

"... okay." The King said.

The bulb of light grew a tiny set of glowing wings. Omi watched it zoom lazily upwards, then beckoned for it to follow him. They would have to move fast.

* * *

Raimundo, Kimiko, and Clay were more than a bit preoccupied with fighting Mayun and his doppelgangers. The three spirits were standing before them, their eclectic mix of weapons humming through the air as they readied themselves for battle. The Xiaolin monks watched them strike out at the air before deciding to attack first. 

"_Wudai Star -- WIND!_"

_"Wudai Mars -- FIRE!"_

_"Wudai Crater -- EARTH!_"

Bolts of fire caught the first spirit in the chest. A vicious whirlwind picked up the second, spinning it to-and-fro rapidly. Fissures opened up underneath the third, sending it stumbling down into it. The monks did not congratulate themselves yet; their enemies were resourceful and clever and it was not likely for them to have been defeated so quickly.

And, sure as they had expected, the three Mayuns sprang out of their respective traps, landing on the ground without much more than a few scratches on them.

Kimiko's foe charged forward, _sai_s knifing through the air. She did a cartwheel to get out of the way but the creature was so fast that it was waiting for her when she righted herself. A roundhouse kick sent one of the blades flying and Kimiko quickly took the offensive, setting her palms on fire and grabbing him by the wrist. Mayun shrieked, trying to pull itself free. Kimiko's grip was too strong, however, and he was forced to relinquish his weapon and stagger backwards, winded by the strain.

The shadow that Clay was fighting had remembered an attack that had worked before. Dissolving into mist, it flowed towards Clay with a loud whooshing noise. The Dragon of the earth raised his arms defensively. The shadow wrapped itself around his abdomen and limbs, stopping only at the neck in order to crush him. "This is worse'n a boa constrictor." Clay grunted as he tried to break free through strength alone.The shadow's extraordinary flexibility allowed it to stretch out when Clay puffed out his chest and constrict again when he exhaled.

The Dragon of the wind was having a bit more luck than Clay. His opponent, despite its might, was having a hard time fighting with two mismatched weapons. The rapier's jabs would constantly interfere with the nunchucks' spinning, and while it struggled to keep them both balanced Raimundo was able to steadily wear it down with his elemental attacks.

"Maybe you should put the skinny sword down." Raimundo suggested, throwing a gust of wind at Mayun.

"_Silence_!" The creature hissed, thrusting forward with the rapier. When he brought the nunchucks swirling in to hit Raimundo, the Xiaolin Dragon nimbly dodged and sent another gale to knock the weapon back towards Mayun's head. The clout sent the shadow reeling and both weapons went flying out of his hands and onto the ground with a clatter.

"See what I mean?" Raimundo said. "You're too overburdened and it's making you clumsy. Here, let me show you how it's done." He grabbed Mayun by the ankles and hoisted him up into the air. With a great effort, he tossed Mayun off Hawk Rock. He several feet into the valley below.

"I will have my revenge!" the demon shrieked. Raimundo wasn't paying attention.

Clay had managed to get the upper hand on his foe, biting and tearing at Mayun until he withdrew, allowing him to ball up the fluid shadow and hurl him away like a cannon shot.

"That's three for three," Kimiko said triumphantly after getting rid of her opponent.

"Lucky for us he split into three parts." Raimundo said. "It must've weakened him. Kinda like the Ring of the Nine Dragons."

It was then that Dojo came slinking over.

"Where were you?" Kimiko demanded.

Dojo glared at her, looking insulted. "If you _must _know, I was fearlessly guarding that one rock over there from the forces of evil." He pointed. "You do have bigger concerns."

"Huh?" Clay asked, scratching his head.

"Jack Spicer." Dojo replied, and vanished before the monks could respond.

The three monks looked back at Jack and noticed for the first time that the glow had died down from his head. The lightning bolt receded into nothingness and soon the pale boy was left sitting atop Hawk Rock, his head lolling back-and-forth in an unsteady rhythm. He looked dizzy and sick, almost like Kimiko had when Jack had drained away her _chi_.

"Are you... okay?" Kimiko asked.

Jack didn't even seem to notice her. He was focused on the ground, on the trinkets there were lying next to him.

"Hey, Jack!" Raimundo called.

Spicer picked up the sword, testing it in his hand with a few awkward stabs. He sheathed it its scabbard and lashed it to his waist before picking up his giant horn. The monks watched in confusion as he jabbed the horn into his nose and between his eyes before finally bringing it next to his mouth.

"What is he doing... ?" Clay began.

Jack blew the horn.

One powerful sonorous note rang through the air. The ground began shaking with the power of an earthquake and lightning and thunder rumbled above. Jack didn't seem to notice anything, even while Hawk Rock began to be shaken apart by the tremors.

"Guys, we'd better get out of here." Raimundo said, nervously eyeing at the wide snakelike fissures ripping through the mountains.

"What about Spicer?" Clay asked.

Raimundo scrunched up his eyes. "I'll get him," He said, after a spell. "You guys get out of here. Look, Dojo's coming." Kimiko and Clay saw the big dragon circling over them again. He was silhouetted against the dark sky, bright green against inky blackness. The flash of lightning made him look oddly sinister.

"Get on!" Dojo boomed, bending his neck to Clay and Kimiko. The two monks hopped on and Dojo flew upwards, close enough to get to Raimundo and Jack but far enough to avoid being crushed by the pieces of Hawk Rock.

Rai ran across Hawk Rock, dodging the pieces of stone and sediment that fell aside as he stepped on them. "Spicer! Take my hand!" He called, extending one hand out towards the evil boy genius. Jack ignored him again. Grunting, Rai lunged for him, intending to scoop him up and carry him back to Dojo. As he extended his arms towards Jack, the boy raised a hand and gestured at him. Rai let out a shout as a swift, powerful blow caught him the chest, knocking him backwards. He stumbled to his feet, clutching at his chest in surprise and pain. "What was _that _for?"

"Rai! WE REALLY HAVE TO GO!" roared Dojo. He did not give Raimundo a chance to object this time. His tail wrapped around the monk's waist, hoisting him off his feet. Raimundo didn't struggle; he only watched as Jack's slight figure receded into the distance, the mountains coming down all over him.

* * *

'_Blow the Horn once and your kingdom will be reborn._' The sly voice from the Slurpee cup had said. 

Jack Spicer did so, obediently, and found himself standing right in the middle of what could only be the end of the world.

"Ohmanohmanohman!" He screamed as soon as Raimundo and the others had gone. "What's going on?"

'_The dawning of a new era!' _The Slurpee announced. '_Watch as these mountains vanish, and your Citadel rises from the dust and spray.'_

Jack looked. The mountains, save for the tiny sliver that he was standing on, were nothing more than hills of smashed forest and crumbling rock. In their place were rising walls, four in all, that were threatening to box Jack in. He thought about flying off; his helipack was miraculously unharmed in all this, but decided against it. The talking Slurpee had given him good advice so far; why not stay and see it through?

Now he could see that the Horn's magic was creating. It was a tower, unfurnished and unadorned, made from the remnants of the fallen mountain range. The thing was of mammoth size but the magic was building it far faster than any human could hope to do. The roof towered over Jack's head in a matter of seconds, and he could already see the beginnings of windows starting to form. And while he stood inside, he could hear other structures being built in the region by the sea.

A door eventually formed and Jack was able to step out and see his royal city being built by magic.

_'This is the Crown's power. It will reshape this land as the seat of your new nation, Your Highness_.'

And it was so. Barracks, stables, and fortresses rose up where there was nothing but beaches. The rubble was unnaturally paved into streets. Jack could even see the skeleton of a laboratory being built, one from which he could build every robot that he wanted. There was an arcade beside it as well as what could become his private movie theatre.

"Wow, how are you doing all of this?" Jack said.

'_It is power. Your power, Your Highness. For you are now the King, and everything you so desire shall be yours.' _The Slurpee said.

"Great!" Jack said. "Awesome!"

'_Sit and wait, Your Highness. Your army is coming.' _

Jack scratched his head. "Army? You mean my Jack-bots?"

He heard the sound of wings flapping and chanced a glance upwards. There, he could see a swarm of bony-white shapes soaring below the gloomy sky.

'_Skeleton dragons._' His clever counsellor said. '_The very same ones that Chase Young raised so long ago, and Hannibal Bean took into his service. They have found their true master. They shall carry out your every bidding._'

They landed in the barracks, two to a cell, and managed to fill up the giant building with even more left crouching by the wayside.

"Alright." Jack said, cracking his knuckles. "This is officially the coolest thing that has ever happened to me."

'_You deserve every bit of it._'

"Now what?" Jack wondered. "Do I go and crush the Xiaolin monks? Or take my revenge on Katnappe and those other stupid doody-heads? Do I start taking over the world? I'm just brimming with ideas!"

'_I'm sure you are.' _The voice said. '_Now that you have finally claimed your birthright, you must have patience once again. Your conquest of the world will fail if it is rushed. Allow me, your wise and faithful advisor, to devise a plan that will put you on your rightful place as the paramount of the earth.'_

"Alright, I'm feeling generous." Jack said. "Take all the time you want. I'll be in the arcade. D'you think they'll have Mindcreeper II?"

Jack ambled towards the arcade, as blissful as can be. He was Top Dog now; he would enjoy this moment of peace before he started another upward struggle. While the being living in his beverages plotted and schemed, he could have fun in the arcade. After all, how could anything go wrong now?

* * *

**Author's Note: Yeah, famous last words, I know. Jack's finally on top though; why **_**not **_**enjoy it now while he's in the moment? It's better than putting around with broken robots all day, don't you think? **

**Anyway, about Mayun; yeah, I did base some of his powers on Venom. It was my plan to make him one of Jack's new henchmen that his new friends are going to furnish him with. He'll be recurring a bit after this so he needed some cool abilities to make him worth keeping. Also, I like the image of a suffocating shadow; kind of like a Lethifold from Harry Potter. **

**I'd like to once again thank all of the people who keep reviewing this story. I really do appreciate all of your comments. The next chapter should be up in two days at the latest; I've already started writing it and I can tell you now that it's going to focus more on the monks than on Jack. He's going to be busy in the arcade anyway and I don't think that anyone would want to read about someone playing video games, right? Anyway, read and review and I'll see you then!**


	12. The Beast's Mouth

**The Beast's Mouth  
**

The Temple was dark and still when Omi arrived. No one was on guard, not even one of the indescript monks who had very few duties around the place. His flying companion, the King of Storms, was chittering along beside him, acting like a torch light as he crept through the many rooms of the monastery. He wondered what was going on; it was unlike Raimundo to let his guard down this much, especially after the disaster that had taken place at Master Fung's Temple. Omi hoped that his friends weren't in trouble.

His hopes were granted when he reached their rooms. Raimundo, Kimiko, and Clay were all safe and in bed while Dojo was reclining on the wall next to a half-eaten bag of potato chips. Even Hannibal Bean was still around, resting in the Meditation Hall. Omi thought about waking them up to tell them about his discovery, but decided not to. After the events of the past few days, they deserved a break.

He yawned.

_And so do I_, he thought.

"Well, aren't you going to tell them? Huh? Huh?" The King asked.

"Be silent!" Omi hissed when he heard one of his friends moan in their sleep.

"You _promised_!" whined the King.

"_At dawn_! Be silent until then, _please_!" Omi said. "Do you have a way to rest yourself?"

The King seemed to nod; it was hard to tell because he was only a ball of light with wings. He flew back away from Omi's head and collapsed into a single miniscule point that was somehow more intensely bright than he was before. Omi watched him flit about, searching for a place to stash himself. When it vanished into a cupboard somewhere, Omi felt safe to turn around and find his own room.

* * *

The monks slept for the next two days. It took Dojo, normally a late riser, to wake them up. 

"What is it now?" Raimundo groaned when Dojo started shaking him awake.

"Nothing too important," Dojo admitted. "I just thought you guys would like to see something neat."

Raimundo joined Kimiko, Clay, and Omi out into the courtyard. For a second, he had no idea what they were looking at. Then Dojo tugged at his pants leg and drew his attention to the mountains.

Or, rather, where the mountains used to stand.

"You've got to be kidding... " Raimundo murmured.

The mountains had been levelled completely. In their place stood what appeared to be a giant city that had apparently sprang up overnight. The material looked like dark blue metal, shining in the sunlight with a steely sheen. The architecture itself was impossible; buildings formed spirals in the air, and some of the towers extended at a slant that was unheard of in urban settings or nature.

"Three guesses who built all that." Kimiko said.

Raimundo tilted his gaze even further up. There, above the highest buildings, floated a giant flag at least 30 feet across. Emblazoned on the red background was the face of Jack Spicer, goggles and all, grinning like a lunatic as he surveyed the land below.

"This must be the Crown's magic." Omi declared. "Jack Spicer activated it and now he has... a very strange lair."

"He's planning something." Clay said.

"_Really? _Do you _think_?" Raimundo muttered. "The real question is _what_?"

"Well, you can't plot against Spicer on an empty stomach." Dojo said. "I made roast beast!"

Dojo dragged them all into the kitchen and set them down in front of bowls filled to the brim with something that was hopefully chicken broth with lumps in it. He had applied a liberal amount of salt and pepper and one taste made Kimiko start gagging. Clay was wolfing it down and Raimundo managed to spoon some of it into his mouth. Omi ignored it entirely; he had just remembered the King of Storms who was hiding somewhere in the kitchen.

"My friends, I recently met a very interesting character," Omi announced. He let out a very hoarse-sounding whistle. The King of Storms came zipping out, as exuberant as can be.

"Oh, where _were _you?! I thought that I had been abandoned! _Again_! I am quite afraid of such things, as you can see. If you do not help me, I will never stop Mayun."

"What do you know about Mayun?" Raimundo demanded.

The King suddenly noticed the four other people in the room besides Omi. "Who are you?"

"These are my friends, the Xiaolin Dragons." Omi said. "Raimundo, the Dragon of the wind. Kimiko, the Dragon of fire. And Clay, the Dragon of the earth."

"Don't forget me!" Dojo said. "The Dragon of snoozing. Ha ha, I kill myself sometimes."

"Exactly. Whatever." Omi said, not listening.

"Yes, Raimundo," the King said. "I know Mayun from way back in the beginning of time, when he and I were allies against Typhon and Echidna."

"You never told me that!" Omi said.

"We once fought together against the evil dragons, but he betrayed me to them in exchange for power and wealth. He trapped me in the earth and left me there until Omi valiantly rescued me."

"Well, we took care of Mayun for you." Raimundo said, stirring the soup absently.

"You could not have!" The King said.

"Oh, yes we did." Clay said. "For such a tough guy, he's pretty darn weak when you get the drop on him."

"No, you do not understand." The King insisted. "Mayun is forever tied to Echidna, with whom he made his sinister pact. As long as she exists in some form, so does he. Only by destroying her completely can this hateful enemy finally cease to plague the world. However, I am so, so, so very weary. I fear that I cannot defeat the she-dragon alone. I need your help. Your help, Omi, and that of your noble order."

"That's kind of a long-term goal for us now." Kimiko said. "Our Wudai Quest says that we're supposed to keep Echidna from invading Earth, but there's nothing in my schedule that says we have to go and find her."

"Don't forget that Jack's doing something plumb crazy with our scenery that we're going to have investigate." Clay said. "I ain't sure that the two things are connected, so I was thinkin' that we ought to work with one problem at time. Spicer, then Mayun, then Echidna and Typhon, if we can find 'em."

"I agree." Hannibal Bean said, hopping into the room.

"Where were you all this time?" Clay demanded.

"Guarding the Temple while y'all were snoozing." Bean said. "Didn't want to wake you all up, see, so I took care of everything while you were resting. Dojo helped me, too."

"Yup. I was defending the kitchen. Quite fearlessly, if I may say so myself." Dojo piped up.

"You may not." Raimundo replied.

"Why can we not pursue Echidna first?" Omi said. "It is our imperative to defend the world against all evil, not just Jack Spicer."

"Spicer's easier, though." Clay countered. "And he might have some clues as to what Echidna and Typhon are planning."

"We are talking about the same guy, right?" Raimundo said. "Red hair? Pale skin? Creepy infected-looking red eyes? Totally clueless? If he knows anything about what's going on right now, I'll eat your hat."

"I would advise against that, friend Raimundo." Omi interjected. "His hat is very stringy and fibrous."

"Try some of this delicious gazpacho instead." Dojo offered, pushing Raimundo's bowl closer to his chest.

"Gazpacho? I thought this was roast beast." Clay said.

A new round of bickering fell throughout the room, and for a while everyone except for Rai and Clay went completely ignored.

"Guys! _Guys_!" Kimiko shouted. The two arguing monks fell silent. "We don't need to argue over this just yet. You know why? Because we don't even know where Echidna is right now! We should be doing research to find her, but that doesn't mean we have to forget about Jack too. We can do both things _at the same time_."

Everyone pondered this for a moment.

"Good point... " Raimundo murmured. "Very good point."

"Thank you." Kimiko said calmly.

"How about we... split up?" Raimundo suggested.

"NO!" Kimiko, Omi, Clay, and Dojo shouted at once.

Raimundo looked stunned. "Okay, okay, jeez, never mind. New plan. Kimiko, Clay, Omi, and I'll go after Jack, while Dojo, Hannibal Bean, and the glowing hairball over there will do some more research and Echidna. Is that good for everyone?"

Everyone nodded. Clay still looked doubtful about leaving Hannibal Bean alone but after the ex-villain had stayed and protected the Temple for several days all by himself he didn't feel like raising an objection. Kimiko and Omi were mollified at the compromise and Dojo seemed grateful to have such a non-dangerous assignment.

"Well, it's settled then." Raimundo said. "We leave after lunch."

* * *

Lunch consisted of three-day old pizza and something that was hopefully not toenail clippings. The monks forced it all down, went into the courtyard for some light training, and did one last patrol around the Temple. When they reached the library, they had gone to the trouble of taking down all of the reference books from the top shelves so that Dojo and the other two members of the 'Research Team' as they were being called would be able to get to it much easier. 

"We'll do our best." Hannibal Bean said, sitting on top of a thick copy of Bogeymen II: The Curse of the Two Bogeymen.

"That's nice," Raimundo replied.

Leaving was the easy part. Since Dojo was staying behind, they took the cushy Silver Manta Ray instead. Jack Spicer's new city was surprisingly close to Master Guan's monastery; they had only been flying for twenty minutes when they got close enough to count the threads on Jack's obscenely large banner.

"That's definitely Jack's work alright," Kimiko remarked. "He's the only boy in the world who is enough of an egomaniac to make something like that."

Raimundo smoothed back his hair and checked his teeth in the side mirror. "Yeah, he reminds me of someone that I know." He shot a glance at Clay.

Clay clenched the steering wheels a bit tighter as he took the ship into a sharp downward spiral. There were two walls separating Jack's city from the outside world. A small group of Jack-bots zoomed to-and-fro in the gap between them, on patrol for any sign of intruders. If Clay could navigate around them and slip past the walls, the Silver Manta Ray would be able to get in without drawing any undue attention. But the Jack-bots looked really alert; this was going to be tricky.

He eased the vehicle forward, tentatively passing over the first wall and immediately diving down to avoid being spotted by the Jack-bots flying above.

"Go left." Raimundo urged. "I think I saw a gap in the walls a few metres to the left."

"Just blast the stupid things." Kimiko said. "They're only like ten of them anyway."

"Use your Tiger instincts, Clay." Omi added.

Clay tried to tune them out. He was now maneuvering the Manta Ray sideways along the length of the wall. There was a small space where the Jack-bots weren't occupying. He could fly up quickly and be over the second wall before they noticed.

"_Tiger instincts…_"

"The gap! Try the gap before we get caught!"

"Fine, if you don't want to take the easy way… "

"_SHUSH_!" Clay shouted.

Every robot head swiveled towards them. Through the tinted windows of the Manta Ray, the monks could see their eyes flashing dangerously as they flew around the flying machine.

"Intruder alert." Said one Jack-bot, and all of a sudden they all began repeating it in their dry, robotic voices.

"Intruder alert."

"Intruder alert."

"Intruder alert."

Raimundo popped open the hatch. "We're not intruders! We're… uh… pizza delivery men."

"Pizza?" A Jack-bot asked. On cue, its fellows began repeating the word 'pizza' over and over.

"Yes! Pizza delivery _persons_. We're here to deliver a… uh… pizza." Kimiko said.

"Show—show us the pizza." The Jack-bot said. Its fellow concurred with a series of monotonous beeping. They swarmed around the Silver Manta Ray, eager to get a glimpse of the mythical pizza.

Omi stuck out one yellow hand containing a set of wooden chopsticks. "_Changing Chopsticks_!" He whispered. The Jack-bots let out a dry squeal as they shrunk down to the size of grains of rice.

"That'll learn 'em." Clay said.

"D'you think they had time to get off the alarm?" Kimiko asked.

Clay took off, surmounting the second wall and entering Jack's city proper.

"Aw, jeez…" Raimundo groaned when he saw what was inside the city.

Jack-bots patrolled every corner. Small groups of black-armored knights made their way through the city streets. What was most troubling, however, was the presence of the four military barracks, and the monstrous entities that dwelled within.

"Spicer really _is _going all-out." Clay said.

"This dude has_ everything_." Raimundo said with a whistle.

"Nonsense. He clearly still lacks Tiger instincts." Omi said. "And that, my friends, is something that we possess with all abundance. This plan of his shall not stand before the mighty hand of the Xiaolin." The littlest monk held up his head proudly and surveyed Jack's fortifications with a mixture of apprehension and something approaching excitement.

All four of the Xiaolin monks had their doubts, but they all knew that there was no turning back now. They were inside Jack's new citadel now. They remembered what their duty was. They had to defeat the Heylin side or give over the world to a thousand years of darkness.

* * *


	13. Special Delivery

**Special Delivery**

A small group of Jack-bots floated out of a delicatessen, swigging back huge cups of motor oil and chatting about robot things. They made their way down the street and turned into a wide alley. If they had been more alert, they would have heard the sound of breathing coming from somewhere above. If they had been more alert, they would have noticed the cowboy hat lying discarded on the ground next to a trashcan. If they had been alert, they would have seen the girl crouched on the other side of the trashcan and the three boys hanging from the low-lying rooftops around them.

"Danger! I sense danger!" squealed one Jack-bot when its sensors finally detected something.

Four shapes leapt out of nowhere. The Jack-bots armed their weapons and flew back into a close-knit cluster, back to back as they prepared to open fire. They didn't get a chance to fire a single shot, however. A series of swift karate chops and kicks from their opponents knocked their heads straight off. The robots went careening into the ground.

"Nice work, you guys." Raimundo said, standing over their fallen opponents.

"Look! There are—_were _four of them." Kimiko said. She carefully pulled open one of the robot's chest plate. Inside was a small ID card with a long barcode on the bottom. "We should each take one of these. I did some research on the 'net earlier and it turns out that these are security clearance cards. If we carry them around, the Jack-bots will think we belong here."

The other three monks all took security clearance cards from one of the broken Jack-bots.

"We shall need a disguise." Omi said.

"Got it." Clay had the Moby Morpher strapped to his arm. "_Moby Morpher_!" In a brilliant flash of light, the four warriors were disguised as pizza deliverymen from Pickford Pizzeria. "I thought that maybe we should try to stick to a theme, see."

"Great." Raimundo said. "But now we need to actually find out where Jack is."

The monks walked briskly down the alley. Raimundo looked up. "Well, that was easy."

An enormous fortress was located on the other side of town. Attached to the top of its highest tower was a huge neon sign with the words 'JACK SPICER'S EVIL LAIR' flashing over and over in multi-colored lights.

"C'mon, let's go." Kimiko said.

Four pizza deliverymen strode down the main street of the city with a sense of purpose in every step. No one, neither Jack-bot nor black knight, even attempted to bother them. For the first time, they actually managed to approach their destination without being accosted by the forces of evil. Of course, this didn't last long. For even as they advanced towards the gate, a familiar foe could be seen standing in front of it.

"Mayun," muttered Clay under his breath.

"Who?" Omi asked.

"Annoying bad guy." Raimundo said quietly. "You wouldn't know him."

Mayun was standing guard in front of the castle. He bore the telltale signs of their battle a few days ago but was otherwise hale and put together. The monks stopped about twenty feet away and had quick conference. They decided that it would be better if Omi went first, since Mayun had never met them. While the littlest monk approached the shadowy demon, the other three pushed down their caps over their faces and tried to look as unobtrusive as possible.

"Hello, my friend!" Omi said boisterously as he walked up to Mayun. "I am O…. Ollie the… pizza delivery mon—er, man."

Mayun glowered at him. "Are you expected?"

"Certainly!" Omi said, beaming. "I have a pizza here for Jack Spicer."

"For my liege?" Mayun demanded. "King Jack?"

"Yes." Omi replied.

The shadow waved back and forth as Mayun peered closely at him. "Where is the pizza?"

"My fellow apprentices—er, pizza delivering persons have them." Omi explained. He pointed to the three Xiaolin monks loitering about several feet away.

"Very well." Mayun said. "I shall inform my Master of this. Wait here." The shadow flickered weakly and split into two separate entities. The first Mayun remained on guard while the second slipped between the bars of the gate and trotted up towards Jack's lair.

Omi leaned against the gate alongside the guard, whistling nonchalantly.

* * *

Jack Spicer had beaten every game in the arcade twenty times over and was starting to get bored. He decided that it would be best if he could check up on his advisors now. He had transported them from the Slurpee to a large indoor swimming pool in the middle of his throne room to give them more room to work and think. Hopefully, they had come up with his battle strategy. 

"Hey, guys!" Jack called as he entered the throne room. "How's the planning going?"

A rumbling sound came from pool. '_Your Majesty!' _The voice boomed. '_We have devised a cunning strategy that will allow you to seize control of the world in less than a week._'

"Sounds great!" Jack said. "What is it?"

'_You shall need but two Shen Gong Wu._' The voice continued. '_First, the Golden Tiger Claws_, _which has the power to transport its user to any point on Earth._'

"And?" Jack asked.

'_And you will also need the Diyu Prism, which amplifies the power of other Shen Gong Wu. It will reveal itself soon. I promise that if you retrieve this Shen Gong Wu, you will rule undisputed._'

"That's what you said about the Crown." Jack pointed out, but he raised no further objections.

Mayun turned up then, padding into the room in the shape of a gigantic dog. "Master!" He panted.

"What is it?" Jack asked.

'_Speak._' The voice from the pool rumbled.

"Yes, Master." Mayun said, inclining his head. "A man has come to the gate for you. He claims to have something for you. Something called 'pit-zah'. I do not know what this thing is, but he says that you desire to possess it."

"pit-zah?" Jack asked. "_Pit-zah_? What's that?"

'_He speaks nonsense.'_ The voice said. '_Chastise him._'

"No!" Mayun howled. "It is true! He stands at the gate now! Follow me and I will take you to him!"

'_I should advise against that. Command Mayun to remove whoever is out there. You have no time._'

"Hey, I don't take orders from you." Jack said. "I _give _the orders. You know why?" He pointed to his Crown. "_This _is why. I'm the King, remember. I do whatever I want; you obey me. Okay?"

'_As you wish... Your Majesty._'

Jack straightened his Crown and smoothed out his purple cape. He ran along the length of the pool and jumped into the throne chair on the other side of the room. He picked up the Sword of Tartarus and gestured at Mayun imperiously from his high seat. "Dog! Bring this 'pit-zah' man to me!"

Mayun nodded and groveled shamefully before turning around and leaving. As he bounded off, he transformed twice, first into a giant preying mantis and then into something that looked like an extremely skinny centaur with arms like curved spears.

* * *

The second shadow merged with its originator as it left the lair. Mayun stood in place for moment. Then he looked down at Omi and said: 

"My Master has approved of your presence. You may enter."

Omi waved over at his fellow Xiaolin warriors, inviting them to follow him in. When they came over, however, Mayun stopped them.

"You may not enter." Mayun said. "Only the dwarf has permission."

"_Dwarf_?" Omi demanded, losing composure.

"Shh!" Raimundo urged. "Just follow him, okay?"

Omi took several deep breaths. Mayun turned his back on them and opened the gate for Omi. During that time, the monks came up with a whispered plan.

"I reckon we can't just walk in through the front door." Raimundo remarked.

"We're gonna have to sneak into the lair another way." Clay said.

"You know, I'll bet we could get through by going around to the side and jumping the fence." Kimiko said. "There'll probably a few Jack-bots milling around but they won't bother us. We have clearance."

"We'll need a secret codeword." Raimundo suggested. "Something that Omi can use to signal to the rest of us when to drop in on Jack."

"Chinchilla." Clay said without skipping a beat. The other monks turned to look at him. "What?"

"Chinchilla it is." Omi agreed.

Mayun grabbed Omi brusquely by his shoulder. It felt as if his entire arm had been frozen solid. The monks stepped away from them as Mayun split in half once again, with one side remaining on guard while the other taking Omi up into the lair.

* * *

The lair, which was a mess of chrome from the outside, was surprisingly elegant from within. The ground was neatly covered in rows of a special reflective tile that resembled smoky glass. Pillars of marble and busts of horned demons decorated the walls. The ceiling was made of glass and the sky was clearly visible from the inside. 

More bizarrely, the fort was littered with staircases. Some of them led into actual rooms while others seemed to wind upwards forever or end in midair. Mayun navigated their way around all of these and took Omi up a particularly long stairway. These stairs led somewhere; more specifically, Jack's throne room.

The throne room surprised Omi even more than the rest of the lair. It was taken up in its entirety by an enormous indoor swimming pool. The walls were covered in posters of Jack in various poses and statues of the evil boy genius stood on the edges of the pool. And, on the opposite side of the pool, sitting on an ornate golden throne, was Jack Spicer himself.

"Welcome to my lair!" Jack called. "What the heck do you want?"

"I have pizza!" Omi said, still a bit winded after climbing all those stairs. He felt like he had spent an hour there, even though it had been no more than 15 minutes.

"What kind?" Jack demanded, leaning forward.

"Er… your favorite?" Omi responded nervously.

Jack narrowed his eyes. For a second, Omi feared that he would see through the deception. Then he remembered who he was dealing with and lost some anxiety.

"Awesome." Jack said. "I don't remember ordering out but hey, free pizza! Who'd turn that down?"

'_You are always wise_, _Your Majesty_,' said an unnaturally loud voice that seemed to come from the pool.

"What was that?" Omi questioned.

"Nunya!" Jack snapped.

"Nunya what?" Omi said, feeling foolish.

"Nunya business!" Jack finished, and he burst into spasms of laughter at his lame joke. Omi watched him giggle to himself. He heard a tapping noise coming from the ceiling, and while Jack was preoccupied he looked up and saw his friends on the glass roof, looking down at them.

Omi held up five fingers, motioning for them to wait.

"Hand over the pit-zah—_pizza_," Jack said after he finished laughing.

It was then that Omi remembered that they hadn't actually made a fake pizza box to present to Jack. Whistling nervously, he made a show of turning around and fumbling with the air. He could hear Jack rapping his fingers on the arm of his chair impatiently. _This is a gooey situation_. Omi thought. There was only one thing to do now.

"CHINCHILLA!" He bellowed at the top of his tiny lungs.

There was a loud crash from above as Kimiko, Raimundo, and Clay smashed through the glass, sending shards raining down in the pool. The water frothed and hissed in response but no one was paying attention to it. Jack was watching the three monks drop down into the room, his eyes wide with alarm.

"No! You can't do this!" Jack cried out.

'_You are correct again, Your Majesty. They cannot do this._' The voice said.

Trapdoors suddenly swung open underneath the four warriors.

"What the…" One of them murmured, looking at the empty spaces below them.

They dropped down into them without as much as a sound.

"That was… fast." Jack Spicer remarked as the monks disappeared. "Wait, does this mean that I won?"

'_Yes. You defeated your opponents quite handily_.'

"Man, I rock _so hard_!" Jack called out. The pale boy jumped down from his throne. "Where did they go?"

'_To the dungeon_'. The voice revealed.

"Great. It's taunting time!" Jack said, cackling evilly.

The being in the water made a loud humming noise, almost like it was about to say something, but evidently decided against it. '_As you wish, Your Majesty. Mayun will escort you_.'

The shadowy hound reappeared at Jack's feet with a leash around its neck. Jack Spicer took the leash and together, boy and dog made their way to the lair's dungeons.

* * *


	14. Dragon Power

**Dragon ****Power**

"Dee-dee-dee…. Gonna gloat, gonna gloat, gonna gloat over my en-em-_ies_," Jack Spicer hummed as Mayun led him deep into the cavernous dungeons underneath his evil fortress. The dungeons were mostly empty apart from a few skeletons that had come with the place but Jack was looking forward to throwing anyone who so much as looked at him funny into one of the cells.

"Where are they?" He asked when he reached the end of the cellblock.

"I am unsure." Mayun said hesitantly. He wagged his tail as he trotted down the long length of the dungeon. "They do not appear to be in the cells."

"Oh, come on!" Jack said in annoyance. "How am I supposed to gloat over my enemies if I can't even see them? Did you think about that?"

"I am deeply sorry, Your Majesty." Mayun replied. "I will search the whole length of the dungeons for them."

"Don't bother," said Kimiko's voice out of the air.

"AIEEEE!" Jack shrieked, leaping backwards. He landed in a heap on the ground, only to be hoisted up into the air by the ankles. Clay materialized in front of him, holding him up in one hand and clutching the Shroud of Shadows in the other. His three fellow Xiaolin monks had bagged Mayun and were walking back towards them with the shape shifting demon in their grip.

Jack struggled to pull himself free but he couldn't. "Help! Somebody help!"

"Easy there, pardner." Clay said. "We need to tell ya something about your new allies."

"Allies?" Jack snorted. "They're not allies. They're my servants. They'll do whatever I say!"

"Is that what they told you?" Raimundo said.

"You are dealing with forces much more powerful than you are used to dealing with." Omi explained. "They serve you now only because it serves their ends to do so. The moment you cease to be useful, they shall not hesitate to destroy you!"

"It'll be messy, too," Raimundo added. "Echidna and Typhon, they'll pull out your organs through your eye sockets and--,"

"Enough!" Kimiko interrupted. "Seriously, Jack, you're in serious danger. Your only chance is to help us stop them."

"Why would I do that?" Jack said. "I don't believe your stupid stories. Those guys work for me and they've been nothing but loyal. They've given me weapons that are much more powerful than your Shen Gong Wu and they'll… _oh_." Jack's eyes lit up with realization. "Oh, now I feel dumb! Why am I standing here talking to you when I could be defeating you?"

He stretched out his hand and before the Xiaolin warriors could react to stop him he shouted, "SWORD OF TARTARUS! STOP THEM!"

The dark sword came whooshing through the air towards Clay's head. He ducked, but his cowboy hat wasn't so lucky. It was pinned to the far side of the wall along with the blade. The sword reversed directions in an instant, racing back towards them with murderous intent.

"Fist of Tebigong!" Omi lashed out at the sword with the metal gauntlet snug around his hand. He made contact… only to hear the dreadful scraping sound of the sword cutting through the Shen Gong Wu.

The two halves of the Fist of Tebigong fell to the ground and lay motionless.

"Oh…" Omi's eyes widened.

"Dang, that thing can destroy Shen Gong Wu!" Raimundo cried.

"Let's go!" Clay shouted, grabbing Omi by the head as he ran by. They were soon followed by Kimiko and Raimundo, who didn't even spare time to gather up the pieces of the broken Shen Gong Wu.

"There's no chance!" Jack called as they ran. "The Sword of Tartarus will get you no matter what you do." Once they were out of sight, Jack pressed a button on his wristwatch. "Jack-bots, come get me out of the dungeons. It's creepy in here."

A tarantula skittered past, followed closely by a giant two-headed ant.

"It's _really _creepy in here."

* * *

Dojo, Hannibal Bean, and the King of Storms were busy doing research in the Meditation Hall. Well, 'research' would be an exaggeration. The King of Storms was hovering over a scroll, making humming noises incessantly. Dojo was flipping frantically through several books at once without actually reading any of them. And Hannibal Bean was passed out on the floor near the fireplace after poring over the voluminous 101 Very Boring Magical Secrets by Monk Stupor. 

"Got anything?" Dojo asked the King of Storms.

"Hmm?" The King replied.

Dojo groaned. "Are you even reading?"

"Reading what?" The King demanded.

"We're supposed to be researching Echidna and Typhon! Do you _want _the Earth to be destroyed!? Huh!? _HUH!?_" Dojo shrieked.

"Well, forgive _me _for not knowing the purpose of this exercise." The King said. "I have been missing the power of sight ever since I lost my physical body. Researching these scrolls is impossible."

Dojo blinked slowly. "What do you mean 'lost your physical body'?"

"Mayun's betrayal destroyed my corporeal body," The King explained. "But my soul of course remains. Only by killing him will I ever have the chance to pass on into a next world."

"Interesting…" Dojo said. "Do you think that there might be a way to bring back your real body?"

This actually seemed to give the King of Storms pause. "There… there must be a way. But it would require frightfully powerful magic. I doubt that you have access to any powerful magicians."

Dojo slyly glanced over at the sleeping Hannibal Bean. The reformed legume opened his eyes slowly and stared back at him.

"What?" said Bean.

* * *

Jack clambered into the throne chamber at the head of a company of Jack-bots. 

'_Now is the time_,' began the voice of the pool. '_To bring to full life your greatest and most loyal servant._'

"Don't we need that Diyu Prism thing?" Jack asked.

'_I have retrieved it.'_ The voice said. The water rippled steadily and a plain glass cube rose to the surface. '_And the Golden Tiger__ Claw__s as well.'_

"How?" Jack demanded.

'_By magic. With each passing minute, I gro__w steadily stronger. You must resurrect me now so that I can lead my armies into battle and conquer the world!'_

"Okay, sure," Jack Spicer replied. He slipped the Golden Tiger Claws onto one hand and reached out for the Diyu Prism with the other. "Wait, how is this going to make me king of the world? I think I should lead _my _armies myself, so that the whole world will see my genius!"

For the longest time, the creature in the water was silent. '_Your Majesty_,' it began, and for the first time those words began to sound insincere. '_Once I am reborn, I will bring the world to you. In fact, I can remake the world in your image, just as I have made this throne city for you. But before any of that can happen, I must be reborn.'_

Jack nodded. "Fine then." He closed his eyes, and then said, "Golden Tiger Claws!" He slashed at the air, creating a swirling vortex above the pool. Gritting his teeth, he hurled the glass cube into it, shouting, "_Diyu Prism_!"

The result was a burst of light and sound. Jack crouched and winced as the noise of shrieking and wailing took over his throne room, followed by flashes of color. The throne room was awash with blues and reds and yellows and purples. Out of the slits of his eyes, Jack could see that everything around him seemed to be warping as ripples emanated from the portal that he created. _Oh boy, what have I done?_

"What have you done?" Omi's raspy voice came from somewhere above him.

"I AM REBORN," said a horribly deep voice in response.

"Oh… oh… _oh_…" groaned Raimundo.

Out of the portal stepped a solitary figure, at least 15 feet tall. It stood upright like a man but in every other respect it was like a great overgrown lizard, covered with vibrantly-colored red and purple scales. It had two long whipping tails. It also had two heads.

Each head had big white eyes that looked like glowing balls of fire. Long, poisonous fangs extended from its mouths.

"I am Echidna," said one of the heads, a little quieter than before. "I am the Queen of the Dragons, the consort of Typhon, the Empress of the Shadows, the Queen of the Underworld… but above all, I am… the end of humanity."

Jack and the Xiaolin monks just stared at her. "Oh… okay." Jack said in a high-pitched voice. "Well, I'll just be going now…" He took off via heli-pack, heading for the smashed glass ceiling of his throne room. He maybe made it an inch or two off the ground before Echidna's tail lashed out and wrapped itself around his ankle. In a heartbeat, Jack was wrapped tightly in her coils.

"Now, now, Your Majesty, you cannot leave yet." Echidna said in a soft voice. "This is your shining hour. If it wasn't for you, none of this would be possible. You deserve a reward fitting for an archvillain of your magnitude."

"Archvillain?" Jack gasped. "Me? Well, thanks, but I wouldn't say 'arch'villain. 'Emperor of the Shadows' is good enough for me."

"No, Your Majesty." Echidna said. "You won't have to hide in the shadows anymore. I will make you King of Earth."

"King of Earth?" Jack said. "_King of Earth?_ I love it! Not the name, but the power." Then a thought struck him. "Um… if I'm King of Earth, then… what are you?"

"I have much bigger plans that just the Earth, King Jack." Echidna said. "You will rule Earth while _I _rule the universe."

It was then that the Xiaolin warriors finally broke free of their shock.

"Not if we stop you first!" Kimiko declared.

"I almost forgot about you!" Echidna exclaimed. "How ever did you escape the Sword of Tartarus? It was supposed to continue until it had drank its fill of your blood."

Kimiko held up a pickle jar. Trapped inside was the Sword of Tartarus, shrunk down to the size of a grain of rice. Omi was holding the Changing Chopsticks.

Echidna seemed delighted. "Excellent work! I never would have thought of shrinking it! But really, you should have allowed it to destroy you. The Sword would have at least given you a quick and relatively painless death. I, on the other hand, will not."

"Xiaolin dragons, attack!" Raimundo screamed at the top of his lungs.

"_Wudai Crater – EARTH!_" Clay roared, hitting the ground hard with his knee. A fissure split across the smoky-glass tiles of the throne room. Echidna waited until it was inches away before casually stepping aside and waving a claw airily.

"Elemental attacks?" She asked disbelievingly. "Very well. I'll play along." She took a deep breath, then roared, "_EARTH!_"

The shockwave blew apart the tiles that Clay was standing on. The whole room was showered in bits of glass and when the smoke cleared the Xiaolin dragon of the Earth was slumped against the wall, motionless.

"Who is next?" Echidna asked.

"Oh man, this is _so _cool!" Jack giggled.

"She can use our elemental attacks!" Kimiko said frantically to the others.

"You noticed?" Echidna said mockingly. "Years of devouring Xiaolin dragons who stray too far from the beaten path have given me quite the arsenal. For example…" She opened her jaws wide. "_FIRE!"_

Flames seemed to issue out of the air around her, setting the walls and the ceiling ablaze. The three Xiaolin monks dodged falling beams and fireballs as they tried to get a good lock on the dragon queen beside the pool.

"This is not working!" Omi cried.

"Yeah, we'd better go." Raimundo said. "I'll grab Clay, the rest of you blast a way out of here."

"We already have one." Kimiko said, pointing at the smashed ceiling.

Raimundo nodded and took off. He hefted Clay over his shoulder, staggering for a bit under his fellow monk's weight. "If we make it back to the Temple, I'm calling Jenny Craig! Oof!" He saw Omi propelling himself up with a torrent of water and Kimiko flying away using the Longi Kite. "Yeah, did anyone even bother to wait up for the Shoku Warrior? No? Didn't think so!" He stretched out one arm and summoned a maelstrom that sent him and Clay spinning through the air after them.

Echidna could not be seen amid the roaring flames and collapsed wreckage of the destroyed throne room but Jack was visible making a beeline away from his former palace. Raimundo thought about going after him for a moment but decided against it. The first priority was getting to the temple; there, they could make plans to stop the evil dragon.

* * *


	15. Stormborn

**Stormborn **

"Tears of a rattlesnake!" Hannibal Bean called.

Dojo skittered across the floor of the meditation hall, sprinkling the precious ingredients on top of a glass pentacle.

"Five wisps of finest silk. Two bristles from the beard of a drunken Spanish jai alai player! The horn of a unicorn! Three hairs from a naked mole-rat!"

"You know weirds me out?" Dojo said as he added those ingredients to the pentacle. "All of this was already in Master Fung's medicine cabinet."

Hannibal Bean pushed the King of Storms into the middle of the pentacle. "And now… one drop of blood from an ancient male dragon!"

"Huh?" Dojo murmured quizzically. "That… that wasn't in the medicine cabinet. I guess we can't finish the spell now."

"Dojo." The King said.

"Oh, okay then! Risk _my _life, why don't you?" Dojo said. He slithered into the other room and returned with a razor sharp knife. "Is this a dagger I see before me?" He moaned piteously. "To be or to be stabbed in the chest, that is the question! Let me die with from a blade plunged deep into my soft and malleable flesh! Aaaaaah!"

He carefully nicked the very tip of his smallest finger. A single drop of blood oozed from the tiny slit and landed on the edge of the pentacle.

"BE REBORN!" Hannibal Bean called, and he clapped his vines together imperiously.

The King of Storms was bathed in a brilliant aura of energy. The round ball of light that formed his spirit expanded and stretched out until it took the shape of a very tall man. Then the aura vanished and the man stepped out of the center of the pentacle.

He yawned.

Then he spoke. "Boy, does my neck hurt! Anyone got an aspirin?"

* * *

The Xiaolin monks fled in silence, not wanting to speak for fear of confirming their worst fears. It took Clay to break the silence, rousing from unconscious and rubbing his head dazedly. "What's going on?"

"The end of the world." Raimundo replied calmly.

"What, again?" Clay said softly. "Wake me up when it's done."

"What are we going to do?" Kimiko demanded.

Before anyone could answer, a flash of lightning cut through the sky, followed closely by the rumble of thunder.

"A storm. Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic." Raimundo muttered.

"A storm is an ill omen," Omi commented. "But all storms must pass in time. As we approach the peaceful eye of the storm, so too shall we approach the eye of Echidna's wrath."

There was a brief period of quietness before anyone else spoke. "Omi," Raimundo said. "Did anyone ever tell you that you're completely out of your mind?"

"I like to believe that I have achieved enlightenment." Omi retorted.

"Hey, at least Dojo and the others have found some clues." Kimiko said.

Raimundo snorted but didn't respond. The Temple was just up ahead. All of the monks desperately hoped that their friends had developed a way to save the world but all of them feared that Dojo and the others had had the same amount of bad luck that they had in stopping Jack from resurrecting Echidna.

The King of Storms ambled throughout the meditation room. He seemed unused to his body. He was constantly testing it, flexing his fingers, jumping around, and curving and stretching his spine as far as he could go.

Someone knocked on the door to the meditation room then. Dojo hurried to open it, only to find one of the junior monks standing there. "Dojo Kanojo Cho, come here quickly!" The monk rasped.

Dojo, Hannibal Bean, and the King followed the young monk dutifully down the hallway to the outside courtyard.

"Hello, Dojo," said a familiar voice.

Dojo couldn't believe his ears. "Uncle… Uncle Tiamat?"

The venerable black dragon was sitting there in the courtyard, surrounded by what looked like all of the dragons from the Dragoncircle Island. Dojo let out a delightful scream and ran into his arms, hugging his uncle fiercely.

"How did you… where did you… why did you come here?" Dojo sputtered.

"You have Master Fung to thank for that." Master Monk Guan said, stepping out from behind Tiamat. Master Fung was standing beside him, looking exhausted. "During our hunt for Chase Young, Master Fung persuaded us that we would be greatly served to enlist the aid of our scaly friends. He persuaded the dragons to come along with us both to Chase Young's lair and to my Temple."

"It is a good thing too," Master Fung added. "Because I sense that dark powers have grown very close to us. The forces of the Xiaolin will need all the help they can get."

Dojo extricated himself from his Uncle Tiamat and slithered over to Master Fung. "We've been making some allies of our own." He said. "Meet Hannibal Roy Bean – the new and _improved _Hannibal Roy Bean, turned good by the magical mojo of the Yin-Yang Yo-Yo."

Master Fung raised an eyebrow in surprise but seemed accepting.

"And also meet the King of Storms, the greatest fighter of evil dragons who ever lived!"

The King of Storms bowed. "I am no longer a King, I am afraid." He said to Master Fung. He swept back his golden hair and said, "You can call me…"

"_Marduk_!" Tiamat announced. "Can it really be you?"

"Yes," said the King of Storms. "A million years I've been trapped in the Earth, but now I'm free. Free to lead the dragon peoples to war against Echidna and Typhon, once and for all."

"It seems that you have been very busy." Master Fung remarked approvingly. He looked around. "Where are the young apprentices?"

"Present and accounted for." Raimundo said as he dropped down into the courtyard, followed closely by Kimiko and Omi. He hefted Clay off of his shoulder and lowered him onto the soft grass. "Well, mostly."

"What happened?" Master Monk Guan asked.

"Echidna happened!" Kimiko explained. "That idiot Jack brought her back to life. We tried to stop her, but she was just too powerful--,"

"She could use elemental attacks!" Omi yelled out.

"Could it be true…?" Master Fung murmured.

"Her abilities are great." Master Monk Guan noted. "But I confess that I am surprised to hear that she possessed elemental abilities as well. This makes the situation graver."

"Who's that?" Kimiko asked, pointing at the King of Storms.

"King Marduk, Xiaolin monks," Dojo said. "Xiaolin monks, King Marduk. He's going to lead the dragons against Echidna. Thanks to me of course. I sacrificed a bucket of blood to bring him here."

Omi bowed. "Dojo, you have truly outdone yourself."

Dojo blushed but didn't say anything.

"Now that the introductions are out of the way," Master Fung announced. "It is time to prepare. Echidna will strike soon, and we must be ready to vanquish her."

Raimundo nodded. "Come on, guys, let's get ready for a war!"

The monks and dragons filed into the Temple. None of them had any idea of what they were going to do. All they could count one was the hope that somehow, they'd come out all right in the end.

* * *


	16. Defiance

**Defiance **

The Meditation Hall was cleared out of all of its furniture except for a few book shelves and a long table with chairs enough for all of the monks at the Temple. It was redubbed the War Room and was even adorned with a banner with Dashi's face on it to inspire them.

The Vault, which had been quietly ransacked by one of Mayun's flunkies at some point, was cleaned out as well. The Golden Tiger Claws had vanished, but all of the remaining Shen Gong Wu were gathered up and given to the monks who would be guarding the outer walls of the Temple. No one was worried about losing them; if they were defeated, then all the Shen Gong Wu in the world wouldn't matter afterward.

"Okay," Raimundo said as he clambered into the high chair between Master Fung and Master Monk Guan. "We've got 4 Xiaolin monks, 100 warrior-monks, 70 dragons, and a handful of old guys. Sorry Master Fung," He grinned sheepishly at Master Fung, who didn't seem bothered. "We've been talking tactics for a while, and here's what we've got."

He cleared his throat and unraveled a scroll. "50 warrior-monks armed with Shen Gong Wu will man the outer walls of the Temple to fight Echidna and her army. They'll be backed up by 40 dragons and the old guys will be there too, manning the catapults to beat off a siege. If we're lucky, Echidna and her army will be destroyed then."

A few of the dragons laughed at that.

"Seriously though, that's not going to happen. The whole point of that is to destroy some of Echidna's skeleton dragons and waste her time and energy so that the rest of us can carry out phase two of our master plan."

"Underneath this temple is a series of wide tunnels. Some of them lead to the Vault, which in retrospect is a bad idea since that was probably how Mayun stole the Tiger Claws in the first place. But it doesn't matter now. What matters is that I will be outside the Vault to lure Echidna into those tunnels. Once she's deep into the tunnels, the remaining monks and dragons will hit it with everything they've got to collapse the tunnels around her, burying her alive."

"As she did to me, all those years ago!" King Marduk bellowed, slamming his fist down onto the table.

"Are you done?" Raimundo snapped. "Because I'm trying to save the universe here, but I don't want to interrupt you."

"Sorry." Marduk sulked.

"Everybody's going to have to pitch in, though." Raimundo continued. "That means we're all going out into the rain and freezing wind to set up the anti-siege weapons. And… that's it. What do you think?"

"Excellent job." Master Monk Guan said.

"Y'know," Clay said, scratching idly at his bandaged head. "I had my doubts about you before, but if this thing works, then I'll take back every single thing I said about your leadership skills."

Raimundo grinned. "I sure hope it works, because if it doesn't then it really won't matter what you think about my leadership."

"Heh, good point." Clay replied, smiling toothily.

Preparing for war is never glamorous, but the Xiaolin monks had never done anything as difficult as dragging out all the old weapons in Master Monk Guan's armory. They were ancient, and rusty, and covered with spider-webs and rust and all kinds of mold. They were also very, very heavy.

"Mikado Arm!" Omi said, using the Shen Gong Wu to grant himself amazing upper body strength. He carried a catapult up to the outer walls, while Clay made rocks for it to launch.

Kimiko used the Changing Chopsticks and Reversing Mirror to make herself a giant, allowing her to line the walls with dozens of anti-siege weapons. Master Fung's medicine cabinet also contained boiling mortar and rotting cheese fondue, which when mixed together made excellent goop to pour down on any of Echidna's soldiers who tried to knock down the Temple's walls.

Raimundo's main job was to show the warrior-monks how to use the Shen Gong Wu. A few had snuck some out of the vault to mess with but most were completely unfamiliar with how to fight with them.

"Look, it's easy." He said. He picked up a random Wu out of a treasure chest. "Just point the Wu at whatever you want to zap and say its name. Like so…" He pointed his chosen Wu at a nearby rock and shouted, "_Kusuzu Atom_!" A lightning bolt struck the rock, vaporizing it.

"Hey, I was going to use that for the giant slingshots!" Clay complained.

"There are plenty of other rocks!" Raimundo responded. "Anyway, do you guys think you can handle it?"

"I think so," said a warrior-monk. He picked up a Shen Gong Wu. "Uh… Tangled Web Comb?"

The tangled web instantly wrapped themselves around his body, choking him as he flopped to the floor.

Raimundo planted his face firmly into his palm. _Oh boy… _

There was a loud BOOM from somewhere near the Vault. "What is it?" Raimundo shouted.

Tiamat stuck his head out from outside the Vault. "Sorry," He wheezed. "I sneezed."

"Jeez, I thought maybe Echidna was launching a sneak attack!" Raimundo complained.

"Well, we're lucky so far." Kimiko said, shrinking down and coming out of the rain. "There's a lot of storm activity, but no sign of Team Evil."

"What about Jack Spicer?" Omi asked.

"He's probably hiding somewhere. Echidna promised him the world, and if she's going to give it to him then why should he work hard to take it?" Kimiko said.

"Good point." Clay said.

The mood within the Temple was curious. Even though it was dark out, everyone was feeling unusually light-hearted. They were more productive than they had ever been before, and even the face of impending doom didn't seem to worry them as much as it had before.

"It's almost like, we know that we're probably all going to be blown to bits, so why bother being afraid?" One of the warrior-monks remarked cheerfully later on that day. "The worst she could possibly do to us is kill us, and once she's done that we're off scot-free!"

"Such a serene attitude," Omi remarked.

"If by 'great', you mean 'suicidally insane'--," Raimundo began.

King Marduk disagreed. "I for one have no intention of being killed." He said. "The only who will die today is Echidna, her and her demon-spawn."

"Famous last words," Clay muttered under his breath.

"Guys, come check this out!" It was Kimiko at her laptop. The Xiaolin monks crowded around her and stared at the screen. "There are news reports from all over the world, saying that giant skeleton creatures are attacking major cities."

Raimundo peered at the string of news bulletins. "They've hit Tokyo, Washington, Paris, Hong Kong, _Bras—Brasilia? _Aw _no!_"

"They must be hitting every capital city in the world." Kimiko said.

"What are we gonna do?" Clay asked.

The screen suddenly turned fuzzy, then went blank. Kimiko shook the computer screen nervously but that didn't seem to help. Finally, the image returned, but this time it wasn't a news bulletin but a video. More specifically, it was a video of Jack Spicer, sitting on top of a throne chair. He was holding the Sword of Tartarus and stroking an evil-looking white cat.

"People of the Earth, you may have noticed that all of the capital cities in the world have suddenly been attacked." He said with a mean little smirk on his face. "Don't worry about it. It is only Phase One of my super-evil plan to take over the world. You see, I am Jack Spicer, and I control the dragons that are destroying your cities. Unless the governments of the world surrender to me immediately, my dragons will destroy one country every three hours. MWAHAHAHAHAHAH! That is all."

After staring at the screen for a few minutes, he looked at someone off-camera. "Was that good?" He asked nervously.

"Excellent, King Jack," Echidna replied.

" Really? I thought I laid it on thick with the evil laughter and all, but…"

"No, no, it serves your purposes beautifully. Well done."

"Hey, thanks, I--, hey is that thing on?" He squinted at the camera suspiciously. Then, he swung his Sword around and slashed through the camera. The screen went black before the bulletins returned.

"This just in – the UN Security Council has just authorized the speedy creation and deployment multinational military force to destroy these rampaging beasts. Good luck you guys!" The perky newsreader announced. "In other news, is Paris Hilton back in jail?"

Kimiko shut off the laptop.

"Maybe Echidna isn't even coming!" Raimundo groaned. "Our plan is useless!"

"No it isn't. There's still time." Kimiko said.

"She's still at Jack's citadel." Clay pointed out. "If only we could lure her here, we could stop her and her dragon army."

"How?" Omi asked.

Kimiko furrowed her brow. "I… _think _I have a way."

* * *

Jack Spicer had just finished sending out an ultimatum to the people of the world from his rebuilt palace and, once again, he was getting bored. He was watching the battle for the planet on a wide-screen TV. The skeleton dragons were face-to-face with a swarm of tanks and assault helicopters and were faring very well.

"Did anyone surrender yet?" Jack asked the Jack-bot in charge of monitoring the situation.

"No, not yet, master." The Jack-bot responded promptly.

"What? Not even France?"

"That is a very bigoted and offensive statement, master."

"You're right, I'm sorry." Jack slumped in his throne. _How long was this going to take? _"Get me the Xiaolin monks. I want to gloat some more."

"Aye, aye." There was a loud ringing noise and the Jack-bot disgorged a telephone from somewhere inside its stomach. Jack hesitantly picked up the receiver.

"Xiaolin losers!" He crowed.

"Hello, Jack Spicer." Kimiko replied over the phone.

Jack grinned. "I'll bet you're scared right now. I'll bet you're wondering how you're going to beat me this time."

"No, not really." Kimiko said. "We already have a plan. A really good one, in fact. It'll bring down your little snake buddies."

"Liar! I know you don't have a plan, because you haven't attacked me yet!" Jack retorted.

"Who says our plan has anything to do with _you?_" Kimiko said.

"What do you mean?" Jack asked.

"You're not the real enemy here." Kimiko clarified. "You're just a tool; Echidna's puppet, really. You have no power, so why would we bother trying to attack you? Really, Spicer, this is pretty obvious."

"Oh yeah?" Jack yelled. "Well, I'm going to get you!"

"Really? Then you'd better go and get your owner's permission first." Kimiko said.

"_I don't need permission! I'm not even going to tell her!_" Jack shrieked. "_Jack-bots!"_ He was suddenly surrounded by dozens and dozens of his robot flunkies. "Get ready! We're going to open a can of butt-whoop on the Xiaolin dorks! Let's go! _LET'S GO!_"

If Jack had been paying attention, he would have heard the monks laughing at him through the receiver.

"Is he coming?" Clay asked.

"Of course," Kimiko responded as she put down her cellphone.

"Hey, everyone!" Raimundo called. "Jack Spicer is coming here with an army of Jack-bots! We have to beat him, and beat him so hard that Echidna has to take notice."

"Hai!" The warrior-monks shouted in unison as they ran to their posts.

"You think this will work?" Clay asked.

"It is only Jack Spicer," Omi commented. "How difficult could he be?"

"Famous last words," Clay muttered, and a chill ran down everyone's spines.

* * *


	17. The Retreat of the Monk Brigade

**The Retreat of the Monk Brigade  
**

The Jack-bots were only a half a mile away and coming in fast.

"Everybody in position?" Raimundo shouted up at the walls.

"Hai!" The warrior-monks yelled in response.

Jack Spicer's voice suddenly came from out of nowhere, as if amplified by a megaphone. "JACK-BOTS! VAPORIZE THEM!"

The army of Jack-bots flew forward towards the outer walls of the Temple. They were firing lasers and rockets at the monks, trying to knock down the walls and get inside the Temple by any means.

"Reversing Mirror!" A monk jumped out from behind a catapult, holding the enchanted mirror like a shield. It absorbed a laser blast and redirected it at a swarm of Jack-bots, blasting them to bits.

Three of the other Jack-bots broke away from the crowd and began emptying their payloads on the Temple doors.

"Oh no you don't!" Clay roared, running out into the rain. He whipped out at the Third Arm Sash, catching their rockets and flinging them back. The robots barely had time to duck before the rockets exploded, knocking their heads off and sending them careening into the mud.

The battle had just started and it was already going badly for Jack Spicer's side. He had brought dozens of Jack-bots but with the Xiaolin monks, the dragons, and the monks at Master Guan's Temple fighting against them they didn't really have a prayer. Within ten minutes, the rain-soaked grounds of the Temple were covered in broken robot parts and Jack Spicer was floating all alone behind them, staring in disbelief.

"Well, I'm outta here." Jack said, turning to fly away. Before he could take off, his heli-pack blew up and he tumbled into the grass.

"You're not getting away so easily, King Jack." King Marduk said, swooping down upon him. He picked up the evil boy genius and took him back towards the Temple.

"You can't keep me here!" Jack complained as he was brought into the Temple.

Everyone ignored him. "You think Echidna will show?" Raimundo asked.

"She ought to," Kimiko said, hefting the Sword of Tartarus that they had taken back from Jack Spicer. "We have her Sword, we have her Crown, and we have her Amulet."

"Three of her five favorite weapons," Omi nodded. He took the Sword of Tartarus from Kimiko and placed it with the Crown of Storms and the Amulet of Mayun. Then he used the Sphere of Yun to trap them inside a force-bubble. They wouldn't be able to get out, and no one would be able to use their powers while they were still inside.

Jack snorted loudly. "Whatever stupid trick you're planning to pull, it won't work. Echidna's the greatest evil villain in the world. Except for me, of course." When he was ignored again, he turned away from the Xiaolin monks and began fiddling with his wristwatch.

"What are you doing?" Clay demanded.

"Calling in reinforcements." Jack retorted. "Betcha thought that I only brought a bunch of Jack-bots. Well, you're wrong!" He laughed maniacally as he barged past the monks and ran into the courtyard.

"What on Earth does he think he's going to do?" Clay asked the other monks.

"Doesn't matter." Raimundo answered. "Let's just hope that Echidna notices."

Jack was halfway across the courtyard when he was swept up by a mass of hooded shadows.

"Oh, it's only Mayun." Raimundo said.

The shadows slithered past Jack and headed straight for the Temple doors. "You must surrender!" Mayun hissed in an echoing voice.

"How about no?" Kimiko replied. "And _bye_." She slammed the door shut in the demons' faces.

They could still hear Mayun's voice reverberating inside of the Temple. Only, it had changed so that it sounded like a raspier version of Echidna's voice. "_'You are only an annoyance, Xiaolin warriors. I will deal with you in due course, AFTER I've taken over the world.'_"

The monks shuddered. "That can't be good." Clay said. "We've got to go out and face her on her own terms."

"There must be another way." Omi said.

"I'm afraid not." Kimiko said. "I was checking the news reports again, and Echidna's side is winning. There isn't much time before her dragons take over or destroy the world."

"Very well." Omi sighed.

"Do we know where she is?" Clay asked.

"According to the news reports," Kimiko responded. "She's personally leading her army across Asia. They've swept all the way to the province of Tokyo. That's where we've got to go."

"I guess you'll need me to take you there." Dojo said, popping up from behind Clay.

Kimiko nodded.

"Very well, then." Dojo yawned. He slithered out the door and into the courtyard. Mayun and Jack were already gone, so they didn't encounter any opposition. He grew to his maximum size, allowing the Xiaolin monks to clamber on top of his back. Then he flexed his muscles and zoomed off into the sky towards Tokyo, and Echidna.

* * *

"We're almost there." Dojo announced about fifteen minutes into their journey. "Everybody ready?" 

The monks nodded, but Dojo kept talking.

"This is gonna be the big one. The one that decides, once and for all, the fate of the universe. If you guys mess this up, everyone in the world will be wiped out. Eradicated. They won't stand a chance. It'll be like the roaches in the kitchen after I show up with a can of Raid. I don't want to put any pressure on you, but…"

"Dojo!" Kimiko snapped.

"Hmm?"

"_WE GET IT_!"

Dojo sighed. "Just do me proud, okay?"

He dropped down on top of a high-rise Tokyo apartment. The Xiaolin monks dismounted and looked around. "I don't see her." Clay said.

All of a sudden, a skeleton dragon swooped past them, missing Clay by inches. A few seconds later, a fighter plane raced after it in hot pursuit. The monks watched as the plane launched a pair of missiles after the dragon. The missiles made contact, one blasting off the dragon's head and the other splitting it in half at the waist. Fragments of bone and sinew fell like rain over the wartorn streets. The pilot of the plane barely had time to congratulate himself before Echidna appeared like magic behind him and grabbed the tail of the plane in one hand.

"_BOOM!_" She laughed uproariously as she flung the plane over her shoulder towards the building that the monks were standing on.

Kimiko whipped out the Silk Spitter and without any hesitation wove a spiderweb in the air to catch the falling plane. The door to the cockpit swung open and the pilot staggered out onto the building.

"Are you okay?" Raimundo asked.

The pilot nodded. "It's a warzone out here," He said in a muffled voice. "You'd better get out of here."

"Not a chance." Kimiko said. "This is my home that Echidna's attacking."

"Wait… Kimiko?" The pilot murmured.

"You know my name?" Kimiko asked.

The pilot's helmet popped off. "_Keiko?_" Kimiko cried.

"Who?" Raimundo said.

"Kimiko?" Keiko said. "What are you doing here?"

"Guys, this is my friend Keiko!" Kimiko explained. "We used to hang out together and play Goo Zombies in my dad's office. Oh, and Keiko, these are my friends, Omi, Raimundo, Clay, and Dojo. We're the Xiaolin warriors."

"Xiaolin warriors?" Keiko asked. "Nice to meet you guys."

"What are you doing fighting those monsters, ma'am?" Clay asked.

"I'm in the SDF." Keiko said proudly. "And what are _you _doing here?"

"It is our duty to defeat the dragons that threaten the world." Omi said.

Keiko looked at the little monk. "Are you sure about that? You look kind of…s--,"

"_Don't say it!_" Kimiko warned.

"Say what?" Keiko said innocently.

"Guys, I think we've got to go now." Dojo said. "The longer we take, the more people who can get hurt."

"He's right. We'd better go." Kimiko said. "Want to come with?"

"I don't think I can." Keiko said. "I have to try to get my bomber free." She looked down at her plane. "Thanks for rescuing me, Kimiko. Good luck! These dragon demons are really tough!"

"You don't have to tell me twice." Clay rubbed his bandaged forehead.

* * *

Echidna was all the way over the Tokyo Airport, blasting the warplanes that were harrying her armies around Tokyo. Dojo decided to carry them closer, getting within twenty feet before stopping. 

The area around Echidna was chaotic. Skeleton dragons and SDF fighters were zooming throughout the streets of Tokyo, blasting at each other. The dragons were easily destroyed, but every time one was blown to pieces twenty more reappeared to take its place. And every once in a while a fighter would go down and would not be replaced.

The monks decided to start off with a sneak attack. If they were lucky, it might even be enough to bring Echidna down.

They each dropped down on one of four buildings surrounding the Tokyo Airport and pulled out their signature Shen Gong Wu.

"_Crest of the Condor – Wudai Star WIND!_"

"_Cats Eye Draco – Wudai Mars FIRE!" _

_ "Kaijin Charm – Wudai Neptune WATER!_"

"_Longhorn Taurus – Wudai Crater EARTH!_"

Echidna and everything around her exploded in a flurry of magical energy. For several minutes, nothing could be seen of her and the Airport except for an enormous column of smoke like that of a nuclear explosion. But when the smoke cleared, the monks were dismayed to see that she was still standing, apparently untouched.

"You." Echidna said, not sounding upset.

"We've come to put an end to you!" Kimiko said

"Really?" Echidna murmured. "Well, you're not doing a very good job."

"_Ooooh, _dissed!" Jack Spicer laughed. The evil boy genius descended down behind Echidna, looking extra-smug. Floating behind him was Mayun, looking particularly inscrutable.

"Well, bring it on, then." Echidna said. "I was hoping to savor a battle with you after I have taken over the world, but if you insist on forcing my hand then I'll just have to deal with you now."

_"What are we going to do?" _Clay hissed to Raimundo.

"_I don't know!" _He replied. "_I was hoping that we could… I dunno… kick her butt or something?" _

_ "You think that's going to work?" _

"_…uh… can I get back to on that?" _

Echidna's two heads were leering at them cruelly.

"What is she staring at?" Raimundo asked aloud.

Omi turned around. Floating gently behind each of the monks was a skeleton dragon, its mouth open as it prepared to bite down on their necks. Reacting solely on instinct, Omi leapt out at each one, karate-chopping it with as much strength as he could must. He snapped their necks one by one, sending them careening to the Tokyo street to be blown apart by the tanks.

Echidna rolled her eyes. "Oh, _well done_! But don't think you're getting off that easily." She threw her head back. "_FIRE!_"

A burst of fire spread out from her body, blasting the buildings that the monks were standing on to smithereens. The monks leapt to safety, but before they could find a place to land Echidna was already hurling airplane parts at them with amazing speed.

"Aw, jeez!" Clay groaned as an aileron hit him in the side of the head. He clutched at his bandage as he plummeted to the street below.

"_Ruby of Ramses_!" Raimundo held him magically in midair, lifting him all the way up to safety atop an airport dome.

"Come to mama!" Echidna shrieked as she flew towards them at breakneck speed.

"RETREAT!" Raimundo cried. The Xiaolin monks turned and ran. Dojo was flying alongside them and as soon as they saw him they jumped onto his back. The added boost of speed took them far away from Echidna but she was gaining fast. Trailing behind her were Jack Spicer and Mayun.

"I thought you had a plan!" Clay grumbled.

"Relax, Clay. I am certain that this seemingly cowardly retreat is part of a _secret elaborate plan_!" Omi whispered back. "Isn't that right, Raimundo?"

Raimundo laughed nervously.

* * *

Tokyo was soon only a speck in the distance but Echidna was still steadily gaining on them. 

"Can't you go any faster?" Kimiko begged Dojo.

"I'm g-g-going a-a-as fast as I c-can!" Dojo screamed in response.

"We must be going 500 miles per hour!" Raimundo complained. "If she can still keep up with us, then the only reason why she hasn't actually caught us yet is because…"

"She is dolling on us." Omi said darkly.

"_What?"_ Raimundo snapped.

"Toying with us. Right?" Kimiko said, and Omi nodded silently.

"We're almost at the Temple," Clay pointed out.

The fortifications that they had spent all day building suddenly looked inferior. How were they going to stand up against a creature like Echidna? She might have left her skeleton dragons behind in Tokyo but she was more than powerful enough to make mincemeat of even the Wudai warriors. But there was really no time to improve them; Echidna was here now and they would have to turn and fight soon.

Marduk was standing outside of the Temple, surrounded by nervous warrior-monks. They watched Dojo zoom past them and into the temple. Then they turned to see Echidna chasing after them.

"STOP!" Marduk roared, leaping up to attack her. Dragon and dragon-slayer met in the air. Marduk's fist crashed into Echidna's throat. The momentum from her flight sent her pinwheeling through the sky, her necks and tails flailing in the air before she fell to the ground in a dazed heap.

"_You_." Echidna croaked when she saw Marduk stepping towards her. "Dragon-slayer, you don't have a chance."

Marduk stepped closer towards her. "It would appear, my dear, that I _do._" He raised a hand. A bolt of lightning from the raging storm above shot down and enveloped it. Marduk gritted his teeth as he channeled the lightning energy through his body. Then he pointed his other hand at Echidna and fired twin bolts at her.

Just then, Mayun leapt out of the sky, slamming into Marduk's chest with all of his strength. Marduk screamed, sending the lightning energy harmlessly into the sky. Mayun was dissolving around him, wrapping his shadowy flesh around Marduk's arms and legs and tightening his grip around the dragon-slayer's neck. Marduk groaned as he was bound tightly by the shadow creature.

"Not a chance." Echidna said, rising her to her feet. Marduk struggled as he approached, but Mayun held him down tight.

By the time the shadow slithered off of his body, it was too late.

* * *

The Xiaolin monks stormed onto the scene a second later, clutching their Wudai weapons in one hand and strapping a small pouch of Shen Gong Wu to their waists. "What's happening?" Raimundo asked a pale-faced warrior-monk? 

"She… _ate _him!" The monk moaned.

Echidna was crossing the courtyard, looking extremely fat and extremely pleased with herself. "Heh. What a meal!" She giggled. "And look…" Electrical power crackled around her talons, power stolen from her latest victim.

This time, she didn't give the Xiaolin monks the first move. Echidna slapped her claws together, sending a surge of electricity shooting out towards them. All four monks were hit at once, knocked silly by a blast of pure agony and thrown against the wall. Echidna advanced on them again, ready to zap them into oblivion.

"ATTACK!"

A flurry of arrows erupted from the Temple walls. They were soon followed by falling boulders and streams of hot tar and acid. Within a matter of moments, Echidna was buried in the stuff being launched by the warrior-monks manning the walls.

"Way to go, guys!" Raimundo called out to them. They shouted back in triumph, but again, that was to be short-lived for as the dust drifted away Echidna reappeared, looking only the slightest bit upset.

"You're only making me angrier when you resist," Echidna snapped. Then, she let out an enormous shriek out of both of her mouths. The shockwaves reverberated through the air and the ground, knocking down trees, smashing gardens, and sending deep worn cracks snaking their way up and down the Temple walls. Monks screamed as they pitched forward off of the shaking walls. Even the anti-siege weapons weren't safe; they broke apart as soon as they hit the ground.

Echidna wiped her mouth daintily. "See the extent of my might?" She hissed, whirling to face the Xiaolin dragons. But they were not there. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see something purple running past the ruins of the fallen Temple wall. "Get back here, cowards!" she howled as she gave pursuit, poison dripping from her twin fangs.

The four monks and their pet dragon Dojo vanished into the massive structure that made up the Shen Gong Wu Vault. Echidna was about to dive in after them when the dragon Tiamat and Master Monk Guan stepped in front of her. On either side of them stood ferocious, hungry-looking dragons of all shapes and sizes.

"Out of my way." She commanded.

"You may not pass." Tiamat responded curtly.

Echidna grinned. "I was hoping you'd say that."

She opened her mouths very, very, wide.


	18. Feeding Frenzy

**Feeding Frenzy **

The Xiaolin monks were in the tunnels underneath the Vault, huddled in one of the inner alcoves with only the glow of the Star Hanabi to illuminate them.

"Echidna's going to be here a few minutes," Kimiko whispered under the noise of the combat raging just outside the vault.

"You really think so?" Dojo asked. "Uncle Tiamat's a great fighter; I'm sure he can give that old bag a run for her money."

Everyone winced as the sound of Tiamat's agonized screaming cut through the stormy air above. "Or… maybe I'm wrong." Dojo hung his head, looking as utterly and abjectly miserable as all of the other monks felt.

"Guys, what do you have?" Raimundo said.

The monks turned out their Shen Gong Wu purses.

"Most of the other stuff was gone," Clay began. "But I was able to grab the Fancy Feet and the Star Hanabi."

"I got the Denshi Bunny and Yin-Yang Yo-Yos." Kimiko said.

"I hold only the Shard of Lightning," Omi admitted.

"And I snagged the Serpent's Tail _and _the Sphere of Yun." Raimundo said, balancing both Shen Gong Wu in his hands. "It's okay, though, because this is where the next part of my plan to beat Echidna is going to kick in. See, what we've got to do is split up--,"

The other three monks and the dragon glared at him. "Have you gone plumb loco, Rai?" Clay demanded. "Splittin' up _always _bites us in the unmentionables!"

"No, you see, that was _before _I had a plan!" Raimundo protested. "_This _time, the only person who's gonna get bitten, is Echidna."

"Raimundo, I sincerely doubt that biting Echidna is going to solve anything." Omi said.

"Not_ literally_, Omi!" Raimundo said. "All we've got to do is lure her on a wild goose chase and--,"

"_YAH-AH-AH-AH-AH_!" Dojo screamed.

The other monks jumped up in alarm, knocking over the Star Hanabi and casting the caverns into darkness. "What is it, Dojo?" Kimiko asked as she groped at ground in search for the Shen Gong Wu.

"Someone… stepped on my tail." Dojo said quietly.

"Come on, stop messing around, Dojo." Kimiko muttered. She picked up something round and pointy and lifted it up into the air. "_Star Hanabi_."

The cavern was lit up again. Kimiko looked down and saw that she wasn't actually holding the Star Hanabi. She was in fact holding a long curved talon. She suddenly turned paler than she usually was as she followed the length of the talon with her eyes and saw that it was connected to the grotesquely large claw of Echidna.

"H-hello." Kimiko stammered.

"Hello." Echidna replied. Her mouth lolled open and the cavern was suddenly filled with intense heat.

"We're out of here!" Raimundo cried.

There was a brief, intense frenzy of motion. The four Xiaolin dragons galloped away in four different directions. Dojo, for his part, vanished under a rock, going completely unnoticed by Echidna.

"The old 'divide' tactic." Echidna mused. "I'd laugh if it wasn't so pathetic." Instead, she roared. "I'm coming for you, Xiaolin monks!"

* * *

Clay headed east, propelled at manic paces by the mystic power of the Fancy Feet. It was a good thing too, because Echidna had decided to make him her first target. But even her great speed wasn't enough to overtake the Dragon of the Earth.

He turned a corner, using the momentum to keep himself from losing any ground to Echidna. The dragon was only several yards away from him now; somehow, she was gaining ground even with Clay's amazing speed.

"You're starting to get tired, aren't you?" Echidna's voice echoed throughout the caverns.

It was true. Clay had developed quite a bit of endurance from his exhaustive training regimens, but the Fancy Feet was eating up all of his energy. Each accelerated step took more and more out of him.

"You can stop." The voice informed him. "You will not live to see tomorrow anyway. Why make your last few moments on Earth a misery?"

Clay was only staggering along by then. Echidna was sailing closer and closer towards him, both mouths open. "You won't… you can't…" Clay gasped.

"What can't I do?" Echidna asked.

"You… can't win." Clay slumped to the floor. The Fancy Feet popped off his feet and fell inert. "It just ain't possible, ma'am."

"Oh? And why not?" Echidna was standing above the fallen cowboy.

Clay grinned weakly. "_EARTH!_" He slammed his fist into the ground with all of his strength. A pillar of solid stone burst out of the ground, slamming into Echidna's chest and crushing her against the tunnel ceiling.

The dragon quickly pulled herself free. "That little stunt just cost you your life!" Echidna snarled. For the first time Clay had seen her, the evil queen was looking just a bit tired. She reared up her hind legs, swept Clay into the air with her tails and dropped him into her cavernous mouth. All the energy she had absorbed from her worldwide conquests had made her grow much larger than she had been before, but she still had enough room in her belly to swallow him up.

"One down," She growled. "Three… to go." And with that, she waddled off in search of the rest of her prizes.

* * *

Omi had been lucky enough to find a naturally-occurring basin of water to the south of the cavern. It was at the edge of that pool that he was waiting when Echidna happened upon him.

"Come to me, my pretty!" Echidna demanded.

"As a Xiaolin warrior, my duty is to resist any cooperation with the forces of evil." Omi retorted angrily.

"Fine by me." Echidna said. She dove at him, narrowly missing by inches. Omi noticed that her flight pattern was a little wobblier than it was before. "You know, I caught your friend Clay." She informed him. "He was delicious, but I'm worried that he might have gone to my thighs. Tell me, Dragon of the Water, do I look fat?"

Omi ignored her. He was far too preoccupied with dodging the fireballs that she was belching at him. Her aim was bad, but the sheer number of her attacks was making it harder for him to dodge, even with the Shard of Lightning.

"Hold STILL!" Echidna let out an enormous blast of fire that hit Omi dead on. The Dragon of the Water screamed as he plummeted into the pool.

Echidna pondered diving in after him, but decided that it wasn't worth it to fight in Omi's own element. She decided to drink up all of the water. She dipped both heads into the basin, lapping up all of the water and the assorted cave scum that generally accumulated in underwater pools. By the time she was done, she had grown to twice her previous size and the top of her back was scraping across the ceiling of the building.

"Perhaps if you did not each so much, you would not have such enormous thighs!" Omi yelled.

Echidna's response to snap him up between her jaws. "Tut tut, Dragon. It's not nice to say things like that to a woman." She moaned weakly, then burped. "Even though it might be true."

* * *

"_Denshi Bunny_!" Kimiko transformed into a living bolt of lightning. She was bouncing up and down the long tunnels, moving as quickly as the lightning that she had become. She navigated through the entire length of the cavern without seeing Echidna or any of her fellow monks, but she had found Dojo cowering in a corner, looking even greener than usual.

"You know, I always thought that turning into electricity would hurt," Dojo was saying. "I mean, it _looks _painful. All of your skin cells turning into yellow sparks and jumping around like… uh… something that jumps around a lot. Jumping beans? Yeah, that's a good metaphor. I always thought it would be like that. But this…"

"_Dojo! Shut up_!" Kimiko hissed.

Dojo zipped his lips, just in time to allow Kimiko to hear Echidna's voice coming from around the corner.

"Perhaps if you did not eat so much, you would not have such enormous thighs!"

"Tut tut, Dragon. It's not nice to say things like that to a woman, even if it might be true."

_Omi_, Kimiko thought. _And Echidna_.

It was time to put her part of Raimundo's plan into action. This would hurt; it would definitely hurt, but if she pulled it off without a hitch then Echidna could be finished off.

"Kimiko?" Dojo whispered. "What are you doing?"

Kimiko placed the little dragon on the ground and gently padded around the corner. The monstrously-large Echidna was crouched over a large empty pool of water. She was now standing on all four legs but was still swaying as if she was sick. Kimiko was almost directly behind her when she heard her.

"Another little morsel?" Echidna demanded. Moving faster than Kimiko had expected, she turned around and swept her into the air. "Which one are you?"

Kimiko struggled to break free but saw that it was useless. "_Denshi Bunny_!" She shouted, transforming again into a flash of electrical energy. Her transformation zapped Echidna's leathery claws, forcing her to drop her and allowing her to dart out of the way.

"You know, I have two of your other friends." Echidna said. She picked at her teeth idly as she watched Kimiko dart from side to side. The Dragon of Fire couldn't hit her back; if she stopped moving to launch an attack, Echidna would have her again. "I think I'll just get rid of that thing." Echidna said. Her tail lashed out, as quick as the thunder, and snatched the Denshi Bunny out of Kimiko's hands. She watched in horror as Echidna crushed the Shen Gong Wu with her tail, forcibly releasing a surge of magical energy that briefly illuminated the room with an unearthly light. "And now…"

Kimiko screwed her eyes shut as Echidna's giant claw slowly approached her. She knew that she had to let the dragon win temporarily, but that didn't make what was coming any more pleasant.

* * *

Dojo poked his head around the corner. What he saw there confirmed his worst fears. Echidna was squatting there alone. A scrap of torn fabric lay on the ground; the remnant of Kimiko's Xiaolin armor. He could even see the remains of the smashed Denshi Bunny in the corner, glowing feebly. And last but certainly not least, he could see all four of Echidna's glittering white eyes watching him. 


	19. Into the Breach

**Into the Breach **

Raimundo sat cross-legged on a boulder deep within the caverns underneath the Xiaolin Temple. There, he could hear everything -- the sound of the waterfall and the awful noise of battle taking place above. He knew that Echidna was crawling above him, hunting down his friends and devouring them. He wanted to go up there and stop her but his head told him that it simply couldn't be done.

_Hurry_, he thought angrily to himself. _Echidna, come here quickly. I have something for you… _

"Raimundo?" called a voice. Raimundo leapt to his feet, expecting to see an enemy slipping behind him. But instead he saw Hannibal Roy Bean, looking dusty and worn.

"Bean!" Raimundo snapped. "What are _you _doing down here?"

"Rai, I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this but…" Bean rubbed his forehead, smearing a trail of greenish blood across his face. "We held out as long as we could. Well, by 'me', I meant the dragons and the warrior-monks. I was kinda functioning as an 'observer'. They cut Echidna's army to pieces like a hundred times but every time we knocked one over Echidna would create a thousand more from their bones."

"Don't tell me…" Raimundo groaned.

Bean nodded. "We had to retreat. The few surviving dragons flew off and led Echidna's skeletons after them. The rest of the warriors disappeared into the forest. I managed to slip into the vault just behind Echidna."

Raimundo furrowed his brow. "How come she didn't notice you?"

Hannibal Bean held up a necklace with a tiny bronze bird dangling from it.

_The Great Garuda_… Raimundo realized with a start.

"It couldn't ward off Echidna but it did keep her from paying too much attention to it." Bean said. "You know, she really is a worm, deep down where it counts. An old, evil, blind worm."

Raimundo nodded sagely. "Tell me about it." He looked around the wide cavern. "She's going to be dropping in soon. You'd better hide."

Bean didn't need telling twice. He flounced off into a corner and tried to blend in with the lichen. It was a poor disguise to be sure but hopefully Echidna would be too preoccupied with Raimundo's attack to even bother to search for the little legume.

As the sound of Echidna's movement grew louder and closer, Raimundo decided that it was probably a good idea to start setting up for her appearance. He started by setting down the Sphere of Yun in the center of the room, making sure that Echidna could spot it the moment she showed up. Then he used the Serpent's Tail to phase partway through the floor so that he could see Echidna before he saw her. Finally, he settled in to wait. If all went well, Echidna would show up soon.

Echidna did not disappoint.

"RAIMUNDO!" She howled in a voice so loud that it sent tremors throughout the room. Her head crashed through the ceiling of the cavern, quickly followed by her entire body. "_RAIM--," _

Right on cue, she looked down and spotted the Sphere of Yun sitting in the middle of the room, glowing brightly due to the presence of her Sword, Amulet, and Crown within. "I see you've left a present for me." She commented, dropping down upon the orb with a greedy look on her face. "Really, this is very sweet of you. If you keep this up, I might even be persuaded to make your end quick!"

Raimundo rolled his eyes. _What is with these smarmy bad guys? _He leapt up out of the rocky ground, Serpent's Tail in hand. "_Serpent's Tail_!" He cried, lunging towards Echidna. The surprised lizard let out a horrific shriek as Raimundo slammed into her, turning her body intangible and sending her spinning across the room. By the time she regained her corporeal form, she was wedged partway through the opposite wall.

"Excellent work!" She said, pulling herself free and destroying the wall at the same time. "It won't do you any good, unfortunately."

The Dragon of the Wind wasn't paying her any mind at that point. He was steadily walking over to the Sphere of Yun, a determined look fixed upon his face.

"What are you doing?" Echidna demanded.

He did not answer.

"Get away from there. I command you!"

Raimundo raised one fist high above the Sphere, infusing it with crackling elemental force.

"_DON'T YOU DARE_!" Echidna snarled, rocketing forward with phenomenal speed. Raimundo watched her approach casually. Just as she was almost upon him, he leapt nimbly backwards and dangled the Yin-Yang Yo-Yos out from inside his sleeves.

"_Yin Yo-Yo_!" He said, ripping a portal directly into Echidna's path. The dragon vanished into it, screaming all the while. "_Yang Yo-Yo_!" A second portal appeared.

"No, don't do it!" Hannibal Bean cried. Raimundo scarcely noticed him until Bean launched himself into the portal, his tendrils flailing through the air. Raimundo yelled after him and jumped in seconds before the portal closed.

* * *

"_Bean_!" Raimundo groaned as he and Hannibal Roy Bean collapsed in a heap in the Yin-Yang World. 

"Aw, way to go, Xiaolin warrior! Now we're in here with the dragon queen." Bean said.

Raimundo snorted in disgust. It honestly didn't matter if Bean was there or not. He would have preferred to do this last part alone but if Bean _had _to be here then he might as well utilize his assistance. "Bean," He said, looking down at the reformed villain. "Echidna's somewhere in the Yin-Yang World and she's going to be coming after us so that she can get her hands on both Yo-Yos." He handed Bean the Yang Yo-Yo. "Take this away." Raimundo said. "Do whatever it takes to make sure that she doesn't get her claws on it."

Bean nodded and took off. Raimundo watched him go then turned to the matter at hand. "Echidna!" He shouted. "I'm coming after you!"

* * *

Unfortunately for him, Echidna was heading in the wrong direction. Furious at being tricked, she had decided to fly around the entire Yin-Yang World, using the advanced senses she had acquired from absorbing Dojo to track the Shen Gong Wu that would allow her to be free. She smelled one heading east away from her and hurried in pursuit. 

Hannibal Bean was deep in the maze of shelves that held the _chi _of everyone in the world. It felt like the best place to hide since it was protected by the Chi Guardian who lurked along its perimeter.

As he made his way down the shelves, he began to wonder if it might be a good idea to try and find his own _chi _vessel. He would never admit it, but he was starting to miss his dark _chi._ He very much preferred being good but ever since he had lost his darkness his powers had been dwindling. He hadn't noticed it until he had performed the spell to restore King Marduk to his body earlier. The incantation had gone off without a hitch but afterwards he felt as if almost all his magic had been lost.

Bean was distracted from his musings by a rush of flapping wings above him. He looked up only to see Echidna zooming past, her eyes scanning the magical halls below.

_Aw, jeez_… Bean thought to himself.

"I see you!" Echidna shrieked a split second later. She dived him at him. He raised his tendrils and sent a rush of dark energy that knocked over the shelves on either side of him. Echidna was buried underneath while he leapt to safety. But that proved to be only a temporary solution; the lizard broke free a moment later and began chasing after him again.

"You…" Echidna began, shooting a blast of lightning at the fleeing Bean. "Will…" The surge of electricity nipped him on the bottom, sending him flying off into the air with a pained yelp. "Surrender!" She got him this time with a blast that hit him squarely in the back. Bean toppled to the ground and sent the Yang Yo-Yo rolling away.

She bounded after it and snatched it up, making sure to tread on Bean as she did. She held up the Yo-Yo into the air triumphantly.

"It ain't gonna work by itself." Bean muttered. "Need the other half."

"Where is it?" Echidna demanded, rounding on him.

The second Yo-Yo flew through the air at her, wrapping itself tightly around Echidna's neck. She grabbed at it but before she could pull it off of her Raimundo yanked the string back.

"What's up?" Raimundo asked casually.

"Give it to me." Echidna said.

Raimundo tossed the Yo-Yo at her. She lunged for it, grabbing the Yo-Yo between two fat claws. To her surprise, it suddenly began to glow.

"Oh…" Echidna whispered, following the length of string to see that Raimundo was still holding the other end in his hand. "Raimundo, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown."

The Dragon of the Wind suddenly looked panic-stricken, which gave Echidna great pleasure. "The game will be an old dragon favorite – Prisoner of War. Whoever can capture the other three times first will be the victor!"

Raimundo nodded reluctantly. "It's a deal. I'll wager my Serpent's Tail against your Yang Yo-Yo."

"Heh, you wish." Echidna said. "I Shen Yi Bu dare you. In addition to the Yang Yo-Yo, I will wager the Shard of Lightning." She held up the Shard of Lightning that she had taken from Omi after eating him.

"I don't have--," Raimundo protested.

Bean crawled up to him and tossed the Great Garuda into his outstretched hand. "Deal." Raimundo said finally.

"Gong Yi Tampai!" The two challengers announced in unison.

The battle for the Yin-Yang World and the Earth was begun.


	20. Within and Without

** Within and Without**

"Humanity continues to astound me." Echidna said as she squared off against Raimundo. "I tear down your temple, devour all of your friends, and send my armies to overrun your planet, and _still _you continue to defy me! Whether that is immense stupidity or immense bravery, I cannot say. All that I can do is tell you that, against a dragon, you stand no chance."

"That's funny," Raimundo quipped. "I was just about to tell you the same thing."

Echidna flicked out her tail and wrapped it around Raimundo's waist. "One." She said.

Raimundo flung himself free of her grasp and landed a few feet away. The dragon licked her lips. He raised the Serpent's Tail up into the air and shouted out its name. Echidna watched as the ground swallowed him up.

The Dragon of the Wind dove down and down, deeper into the earth was so alien to him. Even while intangible, the choking otherworldliness of the ground in the Yin-Yang World seemed to be bearing down upon him on either side. Above him, he could hear Echidna stomping around and cackling. She was waiting for him to resurface, as they both knew he would have to soon.

_I guess I'd better disappoint her then._ He thought grimly.

He stopped his ghostly descent into the ground and simply stopped. His mind screamed for real oxygen, even though his body no longer needed it, but he knew that if he appeared too quickly Echidna would lay her claws on him and capture him a second time.

* * *

Echidna chuckled softly to herself. "So this is battle strategy of the mighty Shoku Warrior? Hide in the ground and hope I forget? How pathetic." 

Hannibal Bean felt the need to defend his newfound allies. "You really don't get how smart these humans are, don't you? Don't you figger that Raimundo's only gone because he has some sorta sneaky plan up those wide sleeves of his?

"What do you mean?" Echidna asked sweetly.

"Oh, I don't know." Bean said, shrugging. "All I know is that you better keep an eye on your scaly red behind, is all I'm saying."

Echidna closed her eyes. Her telepathic sensors spread throughout the Yin-Yang World, touching every soul that lay within its cavernous halls. Centuries worth of human _chi_, both great and small, had been ensconced inside the innumerable bottles on those enchanted shelves. After she was done, she fully intended to go through them and gorge herself on their spiritual energies. It would be a feast that would be spoken of for millennia to come, and once she gained all that power then no force on earth would be beyond her control.

"How do you stand being so weak?" Echidna said suddenly.

Bean looked up at her. "I am not weak."

Echidna curled her lips contemptuously. "Do not delude yourself, Hannibal Bean. Your power has never been great, but losing half of your _chi _has relegated you to being less than a shadow of your former self." She examined him, seeing not only his physical form but the shape of the flickering, purely yang aura that enshrouded him. "Is that what you want for yourself?"

"I want to be good." Bean said. "And I am. Separating my yin is the best thing that ever happened to me."

Echidna shrugged in response. "If that's what you want, far be it for me to argue. I simply assumed that you would desire something, well... more..."

Bean opened his mouth, as if he was going to say something. But then he shut it again. Echidna stared down at him quizzically, then pivoted her heads around in alarm. A ghostlike shape rocketed through the sky and wrapped itself around her necks.

"ONE." Raimundo's voice seemed to echo as he went from ghostly to solid.

"Oh, well done!" Echidna said. She slashed at him, forcing him to let go, then continued her offensive by firing bolts of electrical force at him as he glided back across the floor.

"Typhoon BOOM!" Raimundo roared, clapping his palms together. A whirlwind exploded around his palms, knocking him off his feet and sending him sprawling. "Hey, what was that?" He muttered as he struggled to his hands and knees.

"The Yin-Yang World alters magical powers." Echidna informed him. "Your usual tricks won't be as effective in here."

_That's what YOU think!_ Raimundo thought defiantly. "I guess I won't use my usual tricks. I've been saving these moves for when I really need them." He eyed Echidna cockily. "_Wudai Maelstrom Blade!"_ He chopped at the air ferociously, sending a visible cone of energy zipping straight towards Echidna. It detonated against her chest, causing her necks to whip back at a horrific angle. "_Wudai Thermal Wind!"_ A long spike of blazing wind cut straight through the sky and drove both of Echidna's heads hard into the ground. "And now... _Wudai Hurricane Explosion!_" Raimundo drew back his arms, filling them with the raw unbridled force of a natural disaster. Echidna was still dazed; if he could hit her one last time, he would be able to knock her down and capture her once and for all.

But just as he was about to charge forward and launch his final attack, Echidna's tail slammed into the ground. The ground beneath them both ruptured; in the next instant, a pillar of earth shot up underneath Raimundo and sent him flying into the ceiling. His Hurricane Explosion attack went off on him, blasting him straight across the Yin-Yang World and into a row of thick shelves.

Raimundo was still lying in a rapidly-expanding pool of other people's _chi _when Echidna appeared above him, looking very battered but acting none the worse for wear.

"Two." She tittered, grabbing him by the neck with two of her claws. She let him drop to the ground, then stretched out her claws again to 'capture' him a third time and win the Showdown.

"Ugh... I just have one chance..." Raimundo grunted. Kimiko! Omi! Clay! If you can hear me... "Wudai Orion Formation!"

Echidna paused. "What was that?"

A loud rumbling sound came from the direction of Echidna's stomach. "Aaaaah..." She moaned as her entire body began to pulse with light. "Is this some sort of trick?"

"No." Raimundo said in a soft voice. "Go, Xiaolin monks. Finish her."

**_"Wudai Neptune -- ICE!"_**

Echidna was suddenly enveloped in a block of frozen ice. Hovering above her was a ghostly silhouette that almost looked like Omi.

**_"Wudai Crater -- EARTH!"_**

Echidna smashed her way free of the ice only to have tendrils of molten lava appear out of thin air and bind her necks together. Clay's shade joined Omi's.

**_"Wudai Mars -- FIRE!"_**

Kimiko's voice thundered throughout the Yin-Yang World, only to be drowned out by the horrific screams of Echidna as she was transformed into a colossal pillar of pure white flames. The dragon roared and shrieked in mortal agony as she stumbled backwards, her glowing arms slapping weakly at her burning body.

"Don't tell me I still have to touch her." Raimundo muttered.

Clay's spirit flashed above him, and a cage of earth rose out of the ground behind Echidna. Raimundo took the hint and flung a ball of wind straight at her, knocking her into the cage and causing the door to swing shut. "Two." Raimundo said. The cage dissipated the moment he spoke and Echidna kept staggering back, still screaming her heads off. Raimundo ran towards her. "This is for trying to eat my friends!" Raimundo seized her by the tail, and...

The entire Yin-Yang World was filled with a blinding yellow light.

"Oh, yeah." Raimundo said. "Three."

* * *


	21. The Long Dark Path

**The Long Dark Path**

Echidna fell through the Yin-Yang Portal headfirst. Her flesh and bone still seared with the mystic flames that the Xiaolin monks had called up. But now her mind too, the most formidable weapon in her arsenal, was being invaded. She could feel her dominant _yin_, the spiraling darkness that pulsated through every fiber of her being, being sublimated by a rising _yang_, the force of light.

"You think this will rid you of me, _mortal_?" She shrieked. She exhaled a gust of fire that served only to increase the intensity of her agony. "Nations fall, mortals crumble into the dust, but Echidna is eternal! _Eternal_!"

Her screams were drowned out by the howling void behind her.

The dragon found herself in the middle of a vast garden. At first it seemed to be merely an expanse of grass and flowers, watched over by the sun above. But when she watched closely she saw that the garden was split along the middle by a translucent energy fence. On one side of the fence was a bright and tranquil valley, filled with beautiful blooming flowers and the aura of light and life. On the other, a sprawling, lifeless wasteland was obscured by the overpowering aura of cold and darkness.

"What is this place?" Echidna demanded. The flames around her body subsided, and she could think clearly again.

As if in answer, a sign suddenly flickered into view in front of a healthy tree on the light side of the fence. It read – **The Valley.**

"Oh, that clears _that_up." Echidna muttered disgustedly. She raised both hands into the air, sending a bolt of electricity bouncing between her palms. "Xiaolin Dragon – release me from this place at once or I will raze it to the ground!"

"No need for that," said a soft, gentle voice. Echidna pivoted in place and wound up floating face-to-face with a short, hooded old man with a flowing green beard and three milky-white eyes.

"Who are you?" Echidna asked.

"My name does that matter, o Queen of the Universe." The old man said. "As for your previous question – this place, well, this place has many names. Some call it the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Others have called it _Duat, _Yomi, the Cocytus, the Bridge of Dread, Hades… The list is rather endless. My personal favorite is the _happy hunting ground_, but I think that, in your case, it would be better to call it '_the Taijitu Space_'."

Echidna found herself following the man as he walked along the fence separating the two realms of the place – 'the Taijitu pace' as he called it. The two of them seemed to drift along, keeping astride the fence even though Echidna felt as if they would fall off.

"Normally," The man continued. "_Normally_, when a soul is forced through the Yin-Yang Portal as you were, it is stripped of its dominant _chi_ and forced to live life as a sort of… puppet, for the corresponding _chi _force back in this realm. But _you _– my Queen of the Universe, Lord of Time and Space – _you_ are the terrible exception to this law. _You_don't have any _chi_ to speak of! You live and breathe not light or darkness, warmth or cold, life or death… you are driven only by the eerie magics of hatred, fear, pain, and oblivion. You are a vacuum, my Queen, and nature _abhors_ a vacuum."

Echidna snorted. "I do not care to hear about your metaphysics. Release me back onto Earth now or die."

The man shook his head. "You mistake yourself. I have no control over your fate. You consigned yourself to this place thousands of years ago, when first you rose from the mists at the beginning of the world and put yourself above nature itself. In a sense, you defeated yourself."

"What do you mean?" Echidna snapped.

"I admit, part of the blame for your being here lies with the Xiaolin monks." The old man said. "Raimundo Pedrosa's plan worked too well. He intended only to trap you in the Yin-Yang World so that if you escaped you would be purged of your inner evil and become like Hannibal Bean. He did not realize that you had no _chi _to purge, so when he defeated you and forced you through the Portal he banished not only your evil but everything that is you as well." The old man shook his head. "A sad, sad fate, but not one that is wholly undeserved."

Echidna roared in fury. "I will break free of this place! This I swear!"

She took flight, tearing through the sky at blinding speeds. Blasts of raw magical force issued from her mouth and palms, destroying huge swathes of the Taijitu Space. In her anger, she tore into the earth, tunneling down and down until she could no longer see the sky above. But still, despite her efforts, she could not escape her prison.

"I too tried that when first I was banished here." The old man said.

Echidna ignored him and took wing again. This time she soared across the expanse of the garden of light. The beauty of that place seemed to mock her, but whenever she tried to land she found herself flying back towards the fence. She retaliated by setting it ablaze, and then retreated to the dark wasteland. There too, she was unwelcome, and forced to raze it and retreat.

"There must be a way to escape." Echidna declared.

The old man shook his head sadly, his eyes glistening beneath his hood. "No. We two are doomed to walk the Middle Path, for ever and ever, til the end of time."

The fence seemed to shift sideways, turning into a cobblestone road that wound throughout the valley. On either sides of the road the two lands of _yang _and_ yin_ were cleared of Echidna's ravaging. Shapes – of people, of buildings, and of animals – rose out of the ground and populated it. Echidna could see people she had known on Earth mingling cheerfully amongst them.

Here! Omi, Kimiko, and Raimundo played a game of soccer while Clay carved up a wooden horse and examined it with pride. There! Jack Spicer strolled across the divide over to the light side, dragging along one of his numerous evil inventions. Chase Young and Master Monk Guan ate some ramen soup straight out of the cup across from Marduk and Echidna's minion Mayun, now restored to his human shape.

It was enough to make Echidna want to vomit.

"Show me no more of this!" Echidna commanded imperiously.

"That is another of our torments." The old man said. "To watch, but to never act. To see, but to never enjoy. This too, for ever and ever, til the end of time."

Echidna shot at the Xiaolin monks with her lightning power but it seemed to subside before it hit them. Worse still, they did not even notice her.

"They cannot see us." Echidna realized.

"No-one can see us." The old man said. "A third torment, one that will continue for ever--,"

"_SILENCE_!" Echidna commanded.

The man inclined his head in penitence.

Echidna too was silent, for the longest time. She pondered her plans for the Earth, her decision to rise up a useless mortal like Jack Spicer and make him ruler of the world. A glimmer of hope suddenly struck her.

"At least my minions will continue to fight." Echidna said. "I may be trapped now, but the Xiaolin monks are _finished_! Humanity will not soon forget the name Echidna, the name of the goddess who conquered their race! That, at least, is still allowed to me!"

The old man said nothing.

Echidna sighed, a great shuddering noise that echoed throughout the Taijitu Space. "Who _are _you, anyway?" She demanded. "What caused you to be trapped here, as I am trapped?"

"You do not recognize me, my Queen?" The old man said softly. He lowered his hood. Superimposed over his flabby human features was the aura of powerful many-headed dragon, noble yet deeply and fundamentally broken.

"_Typhon?_" Echidna whispered.

Typhon replaced his hood and took Echidna's claw in his hand. And, together, the King and Queen of Dragons continued their endless march down the Middle Path.


	22. Loose Ends

**Loose Ends**

The portal closed with an enormous slurping sound, swallowing up Echidna too, _chi_ and all. Raimundo watched her vanish with a determined look on his face. Then, when she was completely gone, he nodded his head and fell backwards to the floor like a falling tree.

"You can't fall asleep on the job now, boy!" Clay said, gripping Raimundo's solid arm with his ghostly hand.

"Just… give me some rest, okay?" Raimundo murmured.

"Yeah, Rai, you have to put us back to normal!" Kimiko protested.

"Guys…. I really don't have much energy left…"

"A fallen tree helps only the helpful beaver!" Omi added.

"_What?_"

"Sorry," Omi said sheepishly. "Echidna swallowed some very comprehensive books of wise sayings, and I thought that one was appropriate here."

"Well it wasn't." Raimundo said wearily. "Now let me sleep. When I wake up, I'll work on resurrecting you guys from the dead. I…. I…" He let out an unnaturally deep, rumbling yawn. "I… _promise_."

Hannibal Bean hopped over, looking as tired as Raimundo felt. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. I think I just heard the Chi Creature coming this way." When Raimundo didn't respond, he passed right through Clay's invisible shade and dragged the boy to a sitting position. Then he proceeded to try and slap him awake, delivering heavy blows on Raimundo's left cheek until he finally popped his eyes open and stared blearily at the legume.

Raimundo yawned again. "I guess I'll try to work this out now." He brought the two enchanted yo-yos together. "_Yin Yo-Yo! Yang Yo-Yo!" _The portal reopened, as wide and inviting as ever. He stepped partway through, paused, then craned his neck to look back at Hannibal Roy Bean. "You coming or what?"

Bean shook his head. "Afraid not." When he saw Raimundo's quizzical expression, he elucidated. "I appreciate your hospitality, and your decision to change me for the better, I really do. But it's just not _me_, you know. I _need _to feel powerful again, and the only way to do that is to reabsorb my _yin_and go back to being the Hannibal Roy Bean you knew and feared. That means that I've got to trap myself in here again, before I end up being worse than that Echidna character."

Raimundo nodded. "I'll miss you then." He waved to Hannibal Bean, then turned again and leapt through the portal. It closed up behind him.

Master Guan's Temple was in ruins, as he expected to find it. Stiff ranks of identical gray skeleton dragons formed an enormous occupation force that held the once glorious Xiaolin monastery and the valley in which it was located under their horrible sway.

Lying at Raimundo's feet when he arrived was a flickering object. He had to kneel down and examine it closely to realize it was a skeleton. A tiny, inky-black skeleton of a dragon.

"Couldn't be…" He murmured, knowing full well deep down that this was the sole earthly remnant of Echidna.

'_Do not touch me, mortal…_' Echidna's skeleton rasped, with a hollow tinny voice that seemed to be heard only by Raimundo's mind, not his ears.

"You're not exactly in a position to make demands here, tiny." Raimundo commented.

'_RAARRRGH_!" The skeleton shrieked. It launched itself at Raimundo's face with characteristically uncanny speed. The Dragon of the Wind batted it to the ground. While it lay twitching amidst the reeds, Raimundo ground it into oblivion under his sandaled feet.

"And that's… the end of that." He said.

The instant he lifted his foot off the ground, the entire valley started pulsating with divine brilliance. Arcs of blue and yellow emanated from the point where Echidna had died, sweeping through the air. They enveloped each of the skeleton dragons in turn, and without fail crumbled them into flames and dust. In a matter of minutes, the vast dragon forces that had swept down over the temple had been reduced to the ashes from whence they came.

It wasn't over yet, however. Popping out of the ground, like flowers in the springtime, were the shades of all the people who had been devoured by Echidna. But as Raimundo watched, their spirits deepened and seemed to take on new life, and by the time they approached him they were again as they had been.

* * *

Jack Spicer sat atop his throne in his estates, watching the brilliance coast towards him through the sky. "That can't be good." He muttered. "And I was totally winning, too!"

As the light flooded the room, he felt his ornaments breaking free of his grasp. The Amulet of Mayun was the first; it rose into the air and shattered into a billion pieces. The Horn of Splendor melted away, leaving a sticky green slime on his hands where he had held it. The Stamp of Ouroborous, which he had hardly looked at since he got it, drifted up in a column of smoke, allowing no stray mark to evidence that it had ever been there. The Sword followed it, and it was its disappearance that Jack finally noticed what was going on.

"Hey! I just went to the trouble of stealing all that back from the monks! What gives?" Jack yelled.

Mayun stirred behind him. "I am afraid that Echidna is dead, Your Majesty."

Jack glared at him. "Really? Well that's just lame. Don't I at least get to keep her items?"

"They were forged by her will." Mayun said. "Not one of them can remain on this Earth without her life's force feeding them." The undulating shadow stared sadly up at Jack. "And neither can--," He was cut off as first his head, then his shoulders, and then his knees and toes disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Jack then felt his Crown, the Crown that made him King of the World, slipping away from him. He jumped out of his throne, catching the Crown before it could escape. The magic pulling the Crown away dragged him clean across his throne room, scraping his knee and making him scream for his mother at least twice before he reached the window.

"No… no… you… _don't_!" He grunted, trying his best to keep ahold of the soaring talisman.

_JACK SPICER_!

Jack Spicer let out a scream.

_JACK SPICER! DO YOU TRULY WISH TO HOLD ONTO THIS TRINKET?_

His mind's eye was filled with a scene that seemed foggy, like a dream. Two hooded figures were making their way up a long stretch of road in the middle of a sprawling valley of light and darkness.

_DO YOU TRULY WISH FOR THIS FATE? FOR EVER, TIL THE END OF TIME?_

"Not really. L-l-looks k-k-kinda boring." Jack babbled.

He let the Crown go. It disappeared in a rush of cold air and the hideous scream of an angered dragon.

The Xiaolin monks held Council amid the ruins of the Temple. Every monk and dragon (and Dragon) who had been present for the final resistance against Echidna was sitting or floating in a circle around Master Fung and Master Monk Guan.

"The time has come for recognition." Master Fung said. "Of late we have faced challenges more powerful and more destructive than any the world has ever seen. But all of us, humans _and _dragons, were able to rise up and defend it against the fell forces of evil. For this, on behalf of the Earth and all the innocents who are saved, I thank you all."

There was no applause then, only quiet acknowledgement.

"Raimundo, Omi, Kimiko, and Clay." Master Fung said. The four Xiaolin Dragons bowed. "You faced overwhelming odds, and time and again you were thrashed and thwarted by your opponents, due in part to your odd penchant for splitting up. But when it was necessary, you were able to devise a plan bold enough and ingenious enough to outwit and destroy Earth's greatest foe. For this, I commend you."

This time, there was some clapping.

Just as the Xiaolin Dragons were rising, there was a loud noise – almost like a thunderclap – from amid the ruins of the Temple. They looked up only to see four Elder Monks standing there. Each one was dressed in robes representing the four elements – Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth.

Master Fung and the other monks bowed and the dragons simultaneously unleashed a jet of fire into the air.

"Aren't you the guys who let Hannibal Roy Bean go?" Raimundo said.

The Wind judge that Raimundo and the others had first seen so long ago nodded and smiled. "And now – are you not glad that we did so?"

"How did you know he was going to turn good and help us?" Kimiko asked.

"We can see the future!" The Elder Monks announced in unison.

"_Really?"_

"No." The Monks said. "However, we did foresee that you would need all the assistance you could get, so we deliberately furnished you with an ally to make sure that you were not _too _shorthanded. And, seeing as how the world has not been annihilated, we assume that it worked out alright."

Clay frowned. "I'm guessin' here that you didn't just turn up to clear up a few loose ends."

The Earth element Monk shook his head. "Correct."

"This day, you four surmounted the greatest evil you will ever know. For this triumph, we have decided to raise you from the rank of Wudai Warriors and make you into Grandmaster Xiaolin Dragons."

Needless to say, the Dragons were stunned. The Elder Monk continued.

"It will not be an easy task. The Grandmaster Quest is the most grueling task that any of us could ask of you. Only Dashi himself has ever successfully completed it. If you choose to accept it, then twenty years from today you will have your own Temple and be responsible for training your successors in the way of the Xiaolin."

The Dragons glanced at each other.

_This is a pretty big step… _Kimiko thought.

_A twenty-year long quest? _Raimundo thought incredulously.

_Can I truly prevail? _Omi closed his eyes.

_Aw, shucks, this is a lot of pressure_! Clay thought.

Then they looked back at out at the Temple, and the monks and dragons surrounding them. They saw what they would be dedicating their lives to – rebuilding all the lives that had been irrevocably changed by the war between the Xiaolin and the Heylin, including their own.

"I can do it." Omi said.

"_We_can do it." Kimiko said.

"After all, we just knocked out the Queen of the Dragons!" Raimundo added.

"Amen to that, pardner." Clay finished.

"Good." The Elder Monks said. "We will return in the morning."

And with that, they were gone.

"I am… so very proud of you," Master Fung said.

"Me too!" Dojo cried, running up to embrace the four monks in his arms.

* * *

The Xiaolin monks would walk a long and dark path, one that would have no true end save death. But, unlike Typhon and Echidna, they knew that the point of such journeys was not the destination, but the steps along the way.

* * *

**Author's Note – Thanks, all of you, for sticking by me for one…. Two… three… _twenty-two chapters_! Again, special thanks to Sugarmakesmeangry, for all the dragon facts from mythology that I could possibly need, and even the ones I didn't need. Really, it's been a blast, and I hope I can keep entertaining you… for ever and ever, til the end of time. Just kidding….**

**Or am I…?**


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